Caught on camera: couple dodges freeway shooting on I-580 in Oakland
An East Bay couple was caught in the crossfire of a freeway shootout in Oakland and escaped from the closest of calls when a bullet flew through their windshield.
The incident happened on Interstate Highway 580 on June 14 as Garrett Mason and his fiance were headed to Pleasanton. Mason said he didnt realize it right away but he was caught between one driver chasing after another.
"One of the vehicle's passengers got outside of their window, basically sat up on their passenger window, and opened fire at the car that was tailing them," said Mason. "One of the bullets happened to go through our windshield."
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.
Garret and his fiance were lucky, but far from alone. Dozens of freeway shootings across the Bay Area, several deadly, have prompted Governor Gavin Newsom to pledge funding for a new camera system across the state, including in Alameda County.
"That's what the cops had echoed. Those types of incidents have been on the rise and we're not, you know, a unique case in that sense," said Mason. "The only thing that was unique about our situation was how the bullet had gone straight through and how we had the footage of the occurrence. That was really the only part that shocked them, which does say a lot about what's going on."
Garret is working with a detective but isn't optimistic his case will be solved, since he didn't catch a plate number or an image of the shooter. The shooting has led him to ask some tough questions about living in the East Bay.
"The Bay Area is an amazing place still but it's kind of dampened by these kinds of incidents."
