2 Men Shot in Confrontation Along Roadside

In an incident reminiscent of last year’s wave of highway shootings, two men were shot and wounded during a roadside confrontation in the Valinda area near La Puente.

James Woods, 30, of Glendora, was in stable condition Saturday at Queen of the Valley Hospital in West Covina, his left leg broken by a bullet above the knee cap. The driver of the truck in which he was riding, Tommy Valenzuela, 30, was treated and released from the hospital with a wound above the heart.

Valenzuela said the shooting was unprovoked, but Woods said they were driving in a gang-infested area after work Friday afternoon when another car cut them off. “We’re truck drivers,” Woods said, and get tired of that kind of behavior. So he called the driver a name.

Confront Attacker

As they drove along Willow Avenue, they counted six shots from behind. “We figured he didn’t have no more (bullets),” said Woods, so the two truck drivers decided to confront the man doing the shooting. They made a U-turn, blocked his car and got out to talk to him.

“We asked him, ‘what was your problem,’ ” Valenzuela said. The unidentified man left his vehicle and lifted his arm, revealing not a six-shot pistol but what Valenzuela identified as an automatic weapon. “I saw it was an automatic, but it was too late,” he said.

Sheriff’s deputies said they were searching for the gunman.