State to install surveillance cameras in East Bay freeway shooting hotspots
ALAMEDA COUNTY -- A recent shooting on I-580 highlights the impact cameras may have investigating highway shootings in the Bay Area as state agencies move forward to install several in the region later this year.
A number of those devices will be placed in the East Bay, where most freeway incidents happened so far in 2022.
"Those types of incidents have been on the rise, and we're not unique case in that sense," Garrett Mason told KPIX 5 earlier this week about the shooting that injured him and his fiance in June. That's what law enforcement told him after he shared video from his car of a bullet shattering the car's windshield.
Mason and his fiance got caught in the crossfire of a freeway shootout on Interstate Highway 580 on June 14. The bullet hit the windshield just inches away from his fiance, with the frightening incident caught on the car's dashcam. But even though the shooting was captured on video, the shooter got away and there hasn't been much from law enforcement since.
California Highway Patrol reports 52 highway shootings in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties so far this year, making the majority of the 65 shootings in the agency's Golden Gate Division, which is responsible for the Bay Area. There were 121 shootings for the entire division in 2021, showing a similar rate in the new year.
Caltrans told KPIX 5 on Thursday it is moving ahead with the program to purchase 200 cameras this summer for 50 locations across the state including Alameda and Contra Costa Counties.
The first set of cameras could be installed as early as this fall, with the rest scheduled to be in place by spring 2023.