Driver Is Shot in Face by Passenger Riding in Another Vehicle

A passenger leaned from a car and shot the driver of another car in the face Wednesday, apparently after a traffic dispute.

The victim then drove around a corner and staggered to a house in the 15600 block of Fox Hills Street, where a resident called police about at about 4 p.m., Sgt. Mike Mittelstaedt said.

The man was taken to Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach. His condition was described as stable.

The gunman, who fired about four times, and two other people in a gray Honda sped from the shooting scene at Newland Street and Palos Verdes Avenue, police and witnesses said. They remained at large Wednesday.

The victim told police that he did not know why the gunman shot at him. But a witness told police that one of the two cars had cut in front of the other shortly before they pulled next to each other at a stop sign, leading police to believe that had prompted the attack.

Teen-agers playing basketball across the street said they did not immediately realize that they were watching an attack.

“When I first heard it, I thought it was firecrackers because it wasn’t very loud,” Scott Fleming, 17, said. Fleming and the other players said they saw the gunman’s car speed out of sight, north on Newland Street.

The victim did not carry identification, but his car is registered to Enrique Bahena.