Driver Shot After Dispute on Freeway Near Fair

A dispute between two motorists in stop-and-go traffic near the Orange County Fairgrounds escalated into the third freeway shooting in the Southland this summer, leaving a Rolling Hills Estates man in critical condition, police said Sunday.

Two suspects were arrested Saturday evening on suspicion of attempted murder as they drove into the fairgrounds a short distance from the scene of the shooting, Costa Mesa Police Lt. Leslie Harrison said. The dispute, thought to involve which car had the right of way, erupted near the end of the Costa Mesa Freeway, Harrison said.

The victim, Paul Gary Nussbaum, 28, was reported in critical condition Sunday in the intensive-care unit of Fountain Valley Regional Medical Center.

Struck in Neck

Police said Nussbaum was shot in the neck about 7:05 p.m., while he was driving alone in heavy southbound traffic. The confrontation occurred at the on-ramp from the southbound Corona del Mar Freeway when one of two people in the other car pulled a gun and fired, Harrison said.

Nussbaum lost control of his car, which slammed into three other vehicles, while the car carrying the two suspects drove off. Witnesses gave Costa Mesa police a description of the car, which was spotted a few minutes later entering the fairgrounds.

Police arrested the occupants, identified as Albert Carroll Morgan, 32, and Lonnie Joy Morgan, 28, both of Santa Ana. Harrison alleged that Albert Carroll Morgan, the driver, fired the shot.

Harrison said Albert Morgan was being held in Costa Mesa Jail. Lonnie Morgan was taken to the Orange County Jail facility for women in Santa Ana. Bail for each was set at $250,000. Jailers said Lonnie Morgan was released Sunday.

Pair of Similar Incidents

Last month, there were two freeway shootings in Los Angeles County.

The first was June 21 on the Santa Ana Freeway in Santa Fe Springs, where an unidentified, tailgating motorist fired a bullet, fatally wounding Rick Lane Bynum, 24, of Orange.

In the second incident, Giang Nan, 19, of Los Angeles was shot and wounded June 22 on the San Bernardino Freeway in Alhambra after a right-of-way dispute with another driver that reportedly began when they were jockeying for position on an on-ramp.

Authorities have put out descriptions of the gunmen in both of those incidents but have made no arrests.

Last Aug. 22, Corona Police Officer Patricia Dwyer was killed by a shotgun blast fired into her van on the Riverside Freeway as her husband was rushing their injured son to a hospital. A man who was later arrested and charged with her murder told police he fired the shot to frighten the driver of the van, which he said had been tailgating him.