Shooting on Highway 580 in Oakland leaves boy in grave condition
OAKLAND -- An 8-year-old boy remained at Oakland Children's Hospital Saturday evening. He was listed in grave condition.
KPIX learned the victim and his mother were on their way to dinner around 6:20 Friday evening when they were caught up in a rolling gun battle between two cars on eastbound Interstate 580 in Oakland.
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"Very sad, very sad. It had me and my daughter in tears (Friday) night," said Hayward resident Linda Sequeira.
Sequeira went to Oakland Children's Hospital to visit her grandson. She said she ran into the 8-year-old victim's family and started talking with one of them.
"They were driving to go to dinner at one of the parents' house and they heard what sounded like firecrackers and then they looked over and saw their window shatter and they saw (the boy) leaning over," Sequeira said.
The CHP said the shooting happened on eastbound I-580 near Harrison Street. Investigators said people in a dark gray SUV and a maroon SUV exchanged gunfire on the freeway and a stray bullet struck the 8-year-old boy who was riding in another car.
Detectives said the two suspect cars left the freeway by taking the Park Boulevard exit. Officers shut down the eastbound lanes for much of the night searching for evidence.
"The freeway is really unsafe right now. I don't feel safe driving on it. Even coming here to see my grandson today, I felt scared," Sequeira said.
The CHP reports there were 384 highway shootings in the Bay Area from 2019 to 2021, many of them in Alameda County. Contra Costa County is in second place.
Some cities have installed surveillance cameras on Highway 4 and Interstate 80. And there's a growing demand to do the same on Oakland freeways.
"Cameras, it could be a good thing but also, in the wrong hands, it could be a very nefarious thing, right? A very awful thing," said parent Yosef Sand.
Elected leaders say privacy concerns and money remain a roadblock for freeway cameras.
"I feel sorry for my grandkids that have to grow up in this unsafe world now," Sequeira said.
No one has been arrested in the shooting.