Shooting shuts down roadways
Two connector roads and an onramp in Glendale were reopened Wednesday afternoon after being closed all morning as authorities investigated the death of a motorcyclist who was shot.
The roads linking the 2 and 210 freeways and an onramp were closed for nine hours after the 3:20 a.m. shooting, forcing commuters to detour onto jammed surface streets.
Detectives were trying to determine whether the unidentified motorcyclist, who is believed to have been in his 30s, was part of a biker gang.
Investigators were interviewing witnesses, among them another motorcyclist who was riding with the victim at the time of the shooting, according to Sgt. Tom Lorenz of the Glendale Police Department.
“We don’t know if he was targeted, whether it was random or a case of road rage,” Lorenz said.
The victim was found with a gunshot wound, but Lorenz said it was too soon to say whether he died from the shooting or from crashing his bike into the median of the 2, just south of the 210.
The Los Angeles County coroner’s office was at the scene, along with homicide and forensics officers.
Commuters trying to get from the 210 to the 2, a drive that usually takes minutes, were tied up for an hour or more on side streets, Lorenz said.
The connector roads from the eastbound and westbound 210 to the southbound 2 were both closed, along with the onramp to the southbound 2, according to Officer Anthony Martin of the California Highway Patrol.
Another motorcyclist was killed Wednesday in a collision with a vehicle on the southbound 710 Freeway in the Compton area near Alondra Boulevard.
The incident was reported about 5 a.m., Martin said.
Three southbound lanes were closed, causing major backups. The freeway was cleared at 8 a.m.
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