2 Held in Freeway Shooting

A driver suffered bullet wounds to both arms Friday evening when two gunmen in a red Mustang pulled beside him on the Artesia Freeway in Long Beach and fired repeatedly at his car, police said.

Suspects were arrested moments later after another driver, who had been struck by a red Mustang, followed it and told police on her cellphone where they were.

The shooting occurred at 5:21 p.m. between the Atlantic Avenue and Cherry Avenue offramps, said Long Beach Police Sgt. Paul LeBaron. The eastbound freeway was closed from 5:42 to 6:50 p.m. so police could search for evidence.

The victim told police that the shots had come from two men in a Mustang convertible. As investigators radioed the description to patrol cars, a woman called police to say she had been struck by a similar car on an offramp and was following it.

Sheriff’s deputies stopped a convertible at Alondra Boulevard and Garfield Avenue in Paramount, and arrested Compton residents Bartolome Cruz Murillo, 19, and Jose Torneo, 24.

LeBaron said there was no apparent motive for the shooting. “It looks like it was either road rage or a case of mistaken identity,” he said.

Although the woman who followed the suspects was brave, Le Baron said, “We don’t recommend that people go out and follow suspects who’ve just committed a shooting. But it is important to recognize that it was her information that made an arrest possible.”