An 8-year-old boy continues to fight for his life after getting caught in the crossfire of a freeway gun battle in Oakland.
The shooting happened Friday night during rush hour on Interstate 580. The California Highway Patrol says two vehicles were shooting at each other on the freeway near Grand Avenue. One of the bullets hit the boy in another car.
On Friday, the CHP said the boy was in grave condition when he arrived at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital - Oakland.
In an interview over the weekend, Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price vowed to hold any suspects accountable, but, as of Monday, the CHP had no information on any possible suspect.
"Most of us drive the freeway every day and the last thing you want to think about is that somebody is going to start shooting on the freeway," Price said. "We know that when we get an opportunity to hold somebody accountable for that, we are doing that."
Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom vowed to install some 200 freeway cameras across 50 locations in the state in response to the growing number of freeway shootings.
Local
In a statement Monday, Caltrans said the installations have begun and all cameras are scheduled to be installed by this fall. Read Caltrans' full statement below.
Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson said cameras alone won't solve the issue. He wants to see a more regional approach to stopping the violence, with all nine Bay Area counties, cities and law enforcement coming together to discuss prevention techniques.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
"How do we use that information to be preventative, rehabilitative, as well as containment for people who continue to break the law," he said. "Until we are able to leverage the resources we have, the information we have, and think of how do we address this issue collectively, we will continue to have these conversations."
Full statement from Caltrans:
To improve safety along our highways, Governor Gavin Newsom provided $10 million in the 2022-23 fiscal year with an additional $3 million for ongoing annual support for Caltrans to begin the process of installing 200 freeway cameras. These cameras will be equipped with the latest technology at approximately 50 locations throughout the state as part of a pilot project to improve the department’s ability to operate, monitor, and respond to incidents on the state transportation system. The installation process is ongoing. These cameras will provide new and potentially life-saving capabilities, including wrong-way driver detection, rapid traffic incident detection, and the detection of near misses between vehicles and pedestrians or cyclists. Caltrans has begun installing the first set of cameras, with the rest scheduled to be in place in the Bay Area by fall 2023. Following the installation of cameras in the field, Caltrans will start evaluating the camera’s capabilities and begin deployment and usage in gradual phases.
