Capistrano Beach : CHP Officer Reports Shots Fired on Freeway

Sheriff’s deputies Tuesday were investigating reports of two gunshots fired toward a California Highway Patrol officer who had stopped to check an abandoned vehicle on Interstate 5.

CHP officer Ed Michalkiewicz said he heard the shots about 7:40 p.m. Monday as he was approaching the battered 1973 green Chevrolet Chevelle parked on the shoulder of the freeway near the Camino las Ramblas off-ramp, CHP spokesman Ken Daily said.

Michalkiewicz said he also saw dirt kicked up along the right side of the car and he called for backup units, Daily said. Sheriff’s deputies and CHP and San Clemente Police Department officers searched the area with the help of dogs, a helicopter and metal detectors until Tuesday afternoon but found no evidence of gunfire, Lt. Tom Conner of the Sheriff’s Department said. “That doesn’t mean there wasn’t any,” he added.

Michalkiewicz said he did not believe that the shots were intended to hit him, Daily said.

The patrolman had been sent to the abandoned car, which is registered in Colorado, after a woman called and reported seeing the driver of a red Jeep dragging a man from the Chevrolet into his car, Daily said.

Authorities at first described the incident as a possible kidnaping. But when they contacted the supposed victim, they were told that he got angry when his car overheated and began banging on it with a hammer, smashing some of its windows in the process, Conner said.

The driver of the Jeep was a friend who had been following him on the freeway. The friend pulled the frustrated driver away from his battered car and gave him a ride home, Conner said.

“I think you have to speculate that the guys who left the car there didn’t have anything to do with the gunshots,” Conner said.