Suspect Denies Shooting on Freeway : Sylmar Man Says He Does Not Own a Gun and Did Not Fire at 2 Motorists

An unemployed Sylmar carpenter suspected of shooting at a car on the Golden State Freeway after a tailgating incident was charged Thursday with two counts each of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon and one count of shooting at an inhabited vehicle.

Lewis L. Meeks, 32, pleaded not guilty Thursday in San Fernando Municipal Court to the charges. If convicted of attempted murder in the first degree, he could be sentenced to life in prison without parole, Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael E. Knight said.

In announcing the charges Thursday at a press conference before the arraignment, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira K. Reiner said he wanted to serve notice that “this sort of cowboy mentality doesn’t belong anywhere. God knows, it doesn’t belong on the freeway.”

1 Killed in Similar Incident

In five similar incidents on Los Angeles County freeways since June 18, one man was killed and two were wounded.

“This can’t be allowed to become a trend,” Reiner said. “Before anybody gets the idea that this is akin to getting into a barroom fight, where you do your 30 days in jail, we’re going to stamp it out.”

Meeks’ attorney, Deputy Public Defender Gerald T. Richardson, said Meeks told him he does not own any guns and could not have shot at the couple on the northbound Hollywood Freeway near the junction with the Golden State Freeway in Sun Valley.

However, police found a .25-caliber automatic in Meeks’ garage on Thursday, Knight said. No shells have been found, police said. Meeks had told police he was chased at speeds of up to 100 m.p.h. by a couple in a black Nissan 280ZX on Tuesday morning after a dispute over tailgating, but said no shots were fired, Knight said.

According to police, Carol Ann Fayne, 45, and a friend, Mike Smith, 36, both of Northridge, said they were returning from a movie at Universal City early Tuesday morning when a truck approached and began tailgating their car on the Hollywood Freeway south of Roscoe Boulevard.

Pulled Up Alongside

Their car, with Fayne at the wheel, was in the lane to the right of the fast lane as the pickup began flashing its headlights, then pulled alongside the car on the right, Fayne said.

As the two vehicles were traveling side by side, Fayne said, Smith traded obscenities with the pickup driver, who allegedly fired three shots as the vehicles began traveling north on the Golden State Freeway. Police later found a bullet hole in the car.

Fayne chased the pickup truck to Sylmar in her sports car and reported the license number to police, who used it to trace and arrest Meeks, police said.

Fayne’s husband, Phil, a 46-year-old hairdresser who was in court for Meeks’ arraignment, said he has known his wife to act courageously when she is angry. “She’d do it again,” he said.

Meeks was ordered by Commissioner Stephen A. Leventhal to appear for a preliminary hearing Aug. 4. Meeks is being held in lieu of $250,000 bail at County Jail.