Big Rig Hit by Bullet on Freeway

Gunfire hit the trailer of a big rig on the northbound Long Beach Freeway on Wednesday, the California Highway Patrol said, marking the ninth time in two months that a confirmed shooting has occurred on Southern California freeways.

No one was injured in the attack, which occurred about 10:30 a.m. near the Century Freeway, said CHP Officer Armando Clemente.

Francisco Chavez, a driver for Los Pericos Food Products, an East Los Angeles-based maker of tostada and taco shells, told police he heard what sounded like metal striking his truck, but initially didn’t think much of it, Clemente said. But after he returned to the company’s shipping yard, he found a bullet hole in the trailer and notified the CHP, he said.

The bullet struck close to the front of the cargo portion of the truck, but did not hit the passenger cab. The CHP’s investigative services unit found a bullet lodged in a hole in the trailer’s cargo area, Clemente said.

No casings were found on the freeway, Clemente said, and the CHP is continuing to investigate.

Wednesday’s incident -- the fourth confirmed shooting in the last five days on area freeways -- was apparently the latest in a string of unrelated shootings that began March 12, leaving four dead and four injured in Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties. Also Wednesday, Gardena police said a Harbor City man was being held on suspicion of brandishing a revolver at actor Mykelti Williamson.

Ernesto Diaz, 24, was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, brandishing a weapon from a vehicle, and possession of a controlled substance.

Williamson, known for his portrayal of Bubba in the 1994 film “Forrest Gump,” told police that he was driving his mother’s 1990 Mercedes-Benz to a repair shop Tuesday when a Toyota Sequoia rapidly accelerated behind him and began tailgating him going southbound on Vermont Avenue south of El Segundo Boulevard, said Gardena Police Det. Dennis Salb.

At one point, the driver of the Toyota got out of his vehicle when both cars were stopped and brandished a handgun, threatening to kill him and shouting a racial slur, Williamson said.