LOCAL : Driver Shot to Death on Freeway

A motorist was killed by an accidental shot fired by a companion on the Foothill Freeway today less than an hour after another couple’s car was peppered with gunfire in an attack on the Ventura Freeway.

The slain 19-year-old from Pomona at first was thought to have been killed in a random freeway shooting, as reported by his five Vietnamese companions, who had said they were asleep at the time of the 3:50 a.m. incident. But sheriffs said evidence later showed that the fatal bullet was fired through the rear of the driver’s seat. The gun was not found.

In the other incident, Theresa Rodriguez and her husband, Alex, were fired on about 3 a.m. by a passenger in one of two cars racing on the Ventura Freeway in Woodland Hills.

Theresa Rodriguez was driving north when one of the two cars, each containing two men, pulled in front of her car and suddenly slowed. One car then pulled alongside the couple’s car, and its driver began yelling obscenities at the woman. As she attempted to drive off the freeway, the car’s passenger fired gunshots at her auto. Neither of the Rodriguezes was hit.