Southbound Interstate 880 in the Fremont area was shut down for multiple hours Tuesday as authorities searched for evidence in connection with a weekend freeway shooting that left a 5-year-old girl dead.
Investigators say Eliyanah Crisostomo and her parents were driving south on the interstate at about 6:40 p.m. Saturday when bullets came flying into their car, striking and killing Eliyanah. The family was on their way home from a birthday dinner.
A family friend said Eliyanah, who would have turned six in a matter of days, wanted to be a doctor and was a happy little girl.
"She loved life," Crisostomo family friend Ashley said. "Everybody was her friend. She loved to laugh, smile and hang out with her family."
Meanwhile, some of Eliyanah's teachers and classmates at Santa Clara's Central Park Elementary School were just learning about her death on Tuesday. Santa Clara Unified School District Superintendent Gary Waddell released a statement that read, in part, "We are all heartbroken to lose such a bright young soul as Eliyanah and Santa Clara Unified joins her family, friends, and community in their grief and will be there to support them through this difficult time."
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