Freeway Shots Kill 1 Woman, Injure Another

Two freeway shootings early Sunday, which left a Long Beach woman dead and another woman injured, are apparently unrelated, police said.

About 1:20 a.m., witnesses saw a four-door white Mazda driven by Helena J. Dobiesz, 55, swerve from the 7th Street offramp on the northbound San Diego Freeway in Seal Beach and crash into a guardrail, Seal Beach Police Sgt. Rick Ransdell said.

Authorities found Dobiesz with a gunshot wound to her head and rushed her to St. Mary Medical Center in Long Beach, Ransdell said.

Steve Sibilsky, a hospital spokesman, said Dobiesz was declared dead at 1 p.m.

The bullet apparently came through the left rear window. The car was being examined for any other bullet markings.

“She had gone to dinner with a friend. That’s all we know,” Ransdell said.

Forty minutes earlier, a 47-year-old woman was southbound on a transition road from the San Gabriel River Freeway to the Artesia Freeway when she felt a pain in her back, said Los Angeles County sheriff’s Sgt. Robert Crume.

The woman pulled off the road and used a freeway call box to get help. She was taken to a local hospital for treatment, and was in fair condition Sunday night.

Ransdell said there is no apparent connection between the attacks.

“It doesn’t appear to be correlated at this point in time,” Ransdell said. Nevertheless, investigators were still checking for any connection.

Times wire services contributed to this story.