Gunman Fires at Officer Writing Ticket on Freeway : 2 More Motorists Shot At in Valley as Spate of Roadway Violence Continues

A Claremont police officer was shot at Thursday morning by a passing motorist as he wrote a traffic ticket on the San Bernardino Freeway in Pomona in the latest shooting on Southern California roadways. It was the first time a law enforcement officer has reported being shot at since a rash of traffic-related violence erupted in mid-June.

Claremont Patrolman Dennis McClain said the gunman fired at him near Indian Hill Boulevard. The shot missed.

“I was almost done writing the citation,” McClain said later. “I looked to my left and saw a green Volkswagen bug. I saw the passenger’s right hand thrust out the window holding a blue-steel revolver.”

His first reaction was to crouch beside his patrol car, parked on the roadway behind the stopped motorist, he said.

“I just can’t believe it’s happening,” he recalled thinking at the time.

McClain described the VW’s occupants as two male Latinos between 18 and 20 years old. The gunman wore a red short-sleeved shirt and had straight medium-length hair, he said. The car had a blue California license plate.

‘A Crazy Person’

McClain thought that the Beetle, probably a 1970s model, was going about 55 m.p.h. as it sped by him and continued west after the gunman fired.

“He had to have known he was shooting at an officer because of the squad car,” Claremont Police Cmdr. Rick Mellem said. “This was just a random shooting by a crazy person. People are jumping on the bandwagon because of all the media coverage. It’s a no-win situation.

“I now make sure that . . . that I carry my off-duty weapon,” Mellem said. “I’m not about to take any chances. You just never know.”

Meanwhile, two other shooting incidents were reported Wednesday evening in North Hollywood. There were no injuries. The Claremont and North Hollywood incidents raised to 16 the number of shootings reported on Southern California freeways and roads since June 18. Four people have been killed and two wounded.

In Culver City, police said Thursday that two men were arrested late Wednesday as suspects in drive-by shootings of more than 60 parked, unoccupied cars since April. Daniel Arnold, 30, of Culver City, and James Vernon, 27, of Van Nuys, were booked on charges of felony malicious mischief and released on their own recognizance, police said.

Police Lt. Don Ericsson said the two men will also be questioned about possible freeway shootings.

Another form of freeway violence manifested itself early Thursday morning on the Golden State Freeway near Sun Valley. Rock throwers hurled hundreds of missiles from the side of the freeway, shattering the windshields of 10 vehicles, including an unmarked CHP patrol car.

A three-mile stretch of the freeway was closed in both directions at 5 a.m. for about 40 minutes as police searched for suspects without success. No one was injured.

Deadly Weapon

In a related development Thursday, five suspects in an earlier shooting on the Corona Expressway in Pomona that took the life of Russell Joseph Pirrone, 17, were arraigned in Pomona Municipal Court on charges of murder and conspiracy to assault with a deadly weapon, fire upon a residence and shoot at an occupied vehicle.

The five, Javier Arsaga, 19; Angel Bernardo Reyes, 20; Sarah Jayne Stafford, 21, and David Robert Walsh, 19, all of Pomona, and Richard Bruce Hamilton, 19, Montclair, pleaded not guilty to all charges. Bail was set at $1 million for Arsaga and $500,000 for the others.

“This wasn’t exactly your random shooting,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Gary Hearnsberger, who handled the arraignment. “The suspects were apparently trying to scare a passenger in the victim’s vehicle.”

Police said the incident may have stemmed from an earlier argument between a passenger in Pirrone’s car, whose identity has not been disclosed, and Stafford.

Bullet Holes

In the two North Hollywood shootings Wednesday evening, police said they found bullet holes in each of the two cars, and a .45-caliber slug that just missed one intended victim was recovered from his car, which had been rammed from behind three times by the gunman’s pickup truck, police said.

The first shooting occurred at about 5:30 p.m. at Sherman Way and Lankershim Boulevard, Sgt. Will Doiron said. Tow truck driver Abdul Bolurchin, 49, of Burbank, and a passenger, Jesus Valdez, 26, of North Hollywood, were southbound on Lankershim.

One of the shots apparently penetrated the rear window of the tow truck, went through the cab and out the roof just above the windshield, Doiron said.

The second shooting occurred a little more than an hour later at Laurel Canyon and Burbank boulevards, Sgt. Charles McTaggart said.

James McGraw, 23, of North Hollywood was alone in his car driving south on Laurel Canyon, according to McTaggart, when two men in a brown Ford or Chevrolet pickup truck started tailgating him.

Rammed Car

The pickup rammed the rear of McGraw’s automobile three times for no apparent reason, then pulled along side and slowed. McGraw told police he heard the sound of glass breaking as the two vehicles approached Burbank Boulevard.

The pickup turned west on Burbank and McGraw followed for about a block, noting the license number, McTaggart said.

In the rock-throwing incident, initial reports shortly before 5 a.m. indicated that a car had been hit by gunfire. But police and CHP officers who rushed to the scene reported that rocks, not bullets, had smashed the windshields of passing cars.

“This is probably related to the rash of freeway shootings,” CHP Officer Jill Angel said. “Rock throwing is not that unusual, but these were very large rocks and they were thrown before dawn. That’s strange.

“It’s amazing no one got killed. Someone was definitely out to hurt people. Rocks thrown at cars passing by that quick are fatal.”