The State - News from Jan. 6, 1989

An Oakland man who witnesses said wanted to make traffic move faster so one of his passengers could get to a bathroom was charged with fatally shooting another motorist on a freeway. Darryl Ray Poole, 19, of Oakland, is being held in Oakland’s city jail without bail. He is accused of killing Lawrence Ellingsen, 53, on the Nimitz Freeway on Dec. 3 as Ellingsen and his wife, Sherri, were driving home to Newark after celebrating their 29th wedding anniversary. A bullet pierced the rear window of their car and struck him in the head. Mrs. Ellingsen managed to gain control of the car and steer it to the side of the road. She called her husband’s death “so unrealistic. . . . To shoot at someone going 60 to 65 m.p.h. because someone had to go to the bathroom? I just can’t imagine what kind of people we’re dealing with.”An anonymous phone tip led to Poole’s arrest, police said.