The investigation continued Monday into the deadly shooting of a 5-year-old girl on Interstate 880 in Fremont Saturday night.
Saturday night's shooting happened on southbound I-880 near the Fremont-Milpitas border. There is a possible connection between that shooting and another one that took place in Fremont minutes before. The California Highway Patrol is still trying to establish a connection between the two shootings.
The freeway shooting took the life of 5-year-old Eliyanah Crisostomo of Santa Clara as she and her family were driving home from a dinner party in Fremont.
Fremont police responded to a non-fatal shooting that was reported near an apartment complex on Fremont Boulevard shortly before the freeway shooting.
A witness at the Fremont Boulevard shooting reported seeing someone in a red car firing a shot at someone near the apartment complex and saw the person who was targeted flee the scene unhurt.
The witness reported the license plate number of the red car, carrying three passengers, that sped away. Fremont police put out an alert and, due to the time and proximity of the freeway shooting, included the possibility that the cases and people involved might be related.
The license plate information led to Santa Cruz police stopping and catching three young men who police say were spotted tossing a gun out of a window. Santa Cruz police posted on social media about the stop, including the possibility the three young men might be connected to the freeway shooting.
The CHP, the lead investigating agency in the freeway shooting, said it felt that post was misleading since, at this point, the young men in custody are suspected only in the non-fatal shooting on Fremont Boulevard, not the freeway shooting. The CHP said it needs more information on the freeway shooting and wants the public focused on that.
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"What we’re looking for right now is we're looking for the public to help us with any information that they have that will lead to further evidence gathering,” CHP Lt. Shawna Pacheco said. "They can do that by sending us video, any eyewitness accounts and they can call us at our tip line at 707-917-4491."
The CHP and Fremont police said they can’t comment on any evidence at the crime scene, including whether bullets were recovered.
Meanwhile, the family of the 5-year-old is mourning her death. A woman named Ashley, who said she is Crisostomo's mother's best friend said she was like family to her.
"My first text was, 'Eliyanah was shot on the freeway and she’s going to die,'" she said.
Ashley said Eliyanah was supposed to turn 6 on April 21.
"She would tell her mom, 'I want to be a doctor so I could take care of my grandma, I want to take care of you guys when you get older,'" said Ashley.
Instead, they're raising funds and organizing a funeral service.
"Eliyanah was a great kid and this shouldn't have happened to her, she loved life, everybody was her friend, she loved to laugh, smile and hang out with her family," said Ashley.
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan called Eliyanah's death a parent's worst nightmare and took a stand to prevent these kinds of tragedies.
“I want to express my deepest condolences to the loved ones of Eliyanah," he said. "Beyond increasing staffing for our police department, we need to give our officers the tools they need to enforce safety on our roadways, automatic license plate readers."
