Three Highway Shooting Deaths in 2 Days Probed

Authorities are investigating whether three fatal Sacramento-area highway shootings in two days are linked, though they so far have been unable to find a connection.

Sacramento police and the Sacramento County and San Joaquin County sheriff’s departments are comparing the circumstances in which three drivers were found dead or mortally wounded over the Christmas holiday. In each case, police believe the drivers crashed after they were shot.

Mathew Seivert, 19, was found mortally wounded inside his wrecked vehicle about 2 a.m. Wednesday in Sacramento, and died Christmas Day from gunshots to the head and chest.

Just before midnight Thursday, Rashidi Ahmad Boone Simmonds, 33, of Sacramento was found shot to death inside his wrecked pickup truck just south of the city limits. He had been shot in the neck.

About 8 a.m. Friday, San Joaquin County sheriff’s deputies found the body of Adan Avalos, 37, of Riverbank in his sport utility vehicle crashed into a tree in an almond orchard off California 120, eight miles east of California 99 in San Joaquin County. He also had been shot.