East Bay looks to tackle rash of freeway shootings

A man died Thursday night after stepping into the path of a car on Interstate 80 in Vallejo, triggering a chain reaction crash. A man died Thursday night after stepping into the path of a car on Interstate 80 in Vallejo, triggering a chain reaction crash. Photo: California Highway Patrol / Photo: California Highway Patrol / Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close East Bay looks to tackle rash of freeway shootings 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

An alarming spate of shootings on East Bay freeways, including a pair this week in which one person was killed and two others injured, has one city looking to take matters into its own hands by deploying highway cameras.

City leaders in Pittsburg are expected to decide Monday whether to commit $100,000 toward a surveillance program to detect violence along Highway 4, where a 25-year-old San Francisco woman on Wednesday became the latest to die from gunfire sprayed from a passing car.

Her death was the second fatal freeway shooting in Pittsburg in the past month and at least the 18th episode of highway gun violence in the East Bay since November. In all, four people have died. One shooting, on Interstate 80 in January, injured a small child when bullet-shattered glass sailed into the backseat of a car.

“We’re very concerned with the activity on the highway,” Pittsburg police Capt. Ron Raman said Friday. “We’re trying to take a proactive approach.”

Authorities can’t explain the spike in freeway shootings or say whether the crimes are related. But they do say most if not all of the shootings can be tied to gang activity.

In many cases, members of rival street gangs are going after each other or people they know, according to the California Highway Patrol, which is leading a task force of local, state and federal law enforcement agencies investigating the violence.

“We offer assurance to the public that we take their concerns very seriously and understand that although we know these shootings are not random, this fact can be of little consolation to the motoring public,” the CHP said in a statement Friday. “We have made the investigation of these crimes a top priority, and are working diligently to apprehend the suspects.”

The investigation has recently expanded to include monitoring of known East Bay gang members and a crackdown on illegal guns and drugs in the region, according to the CHP. Officials acknowledge, however, that the work is slow going.

“Gang shootings are extremely difficult to investigate, as victims and witnesses are often uncooperative with law enforcement investigators,” the CHP said in its statement.

One arrest has been made. McCoy Tiasawan was taken into custody in early April on suspicion of opening fire on a car with three occupants on Highway 4. Nobody was hurt in the incident.

Of the 18 shootings since November, 10 have taken place on Interstate 80 and at least three were on Highway 4, according to the CHP.

2 recent fatalities

One of the most brazen occurred March 12 on the eastern span of the Bay Bridge, when two gunmen in a sport utility vehicle pulled alongside a party bus and opened fire. Four people were hurt.

The latest shooting took place about 10:30 p.m. Thursday on eastbound I-80 in Hercules, east of Pinole Valley Road. Someone in a white sedan shot the 25-year-old driver of a Nissan Altima, hitting him twice in the leg and prompting him to swerve into the center divide.

The victim was taken to a hospital, where he was treated and released. The suspect fled.

A day earlier, San Francisco resident Shanique Marie, 25, died when she was hit by gunfire from another vehicle while driving west on Highway 4 in Pittsburg near Railroad Avenue.

Her car careened into an embankment and rolled over. A male passenger was injured. Again, the suspect fled.

Less than a month earlier, Antioch resident Uriel Moreno, 28, died near the same spot. Bullets from a passing vehicle sprayed his Chevrolet Impala on April 19 on Highway 4 near Loveridge Road. Moreno’s car came to a stop after crashing into a fence along the freeway.

Easy to avoid being caught

Raman, the Pittsburg police captain, said it can be easy for shooters to get away with crime on the freeway.

“It’s easier to avoid detection on the interstate when you’re going 60, 70, 80 mph,” he said. “When you’re driving 80, it’s hard to hear gunshots. Evidence will be lost. People will often think it’s a collision.”

The city’s plan for boosting freeway surveillance would put six to eight cameras on Highway 4. It would expand the city’s current surveillance of streets, parks and public buildings.

The Police Department says the program has helped deter lawbreakers and would do the same on the freeway.

“If you go through the city of Pittsburg and you commit a crime,” Raman said, “you’re going to be caught on camera.”

San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Hamed Aleaziz contributed to this report.

Kurtis Alexander is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kalexander@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kurtisalexander