Police Kill Man in Freeway Gunplay

A Baldwin Hills man was shot to death by two Ventura police officers after he pointed a pistol at them after an accident on the Ventura Freeway.

Jose Hernandez Jr., 32, was shot Friday evening shortly after his car veered off the southbound side of the freeway, broke through a guardrail on a railroad overpass and ran down an 80-foot embankment, California Highway Patrol Officer Kevin Schaeler said.

When passing motorists stopped to help, Hernandez brandished a pistol at them and then ran off, said Ventura Police Department Lt. Pat Rooney.

Officers Ralph H. Michaels and Brian A. Roberts later spotted Hernandez walking between the freeway and railroad tracks, he said. When they shouted at him to halt, Hernandez pointed the gun at them, and they opened fire with their shotguns, Rooney said.

In another Friday traffic-related incident, an off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy said his windshield was shattered by bullets in an attack on a freeway on-ramp in Carson.

Sheriff’s Deputy Thomas Gibson, 26, was entering the San Diego Freeway on-ramp when another motorist sped past him on the ramp, then slammed on his brakes and forced Gibson to stop, Sheriff’s Deputy Dan Cox said.

The passenger of the other car jumped out, fired three shots at Gibson, Cox said.