SoCal Freeway Attacks: Attempted Murder Charges Filed

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — An Anaheim man arrested this week in Riverside County in connection with at least one of the more than 100 recent Southland freeway attacks was charged Friday with three counts of attempted murder.

The accused, Jesse Leal Rodriguez, 34, has also been charged with three counts of assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury.

All of the charges stem from Tuesday's alleged BB gun shooting in the Riverside County city of Norco. Around 1:30 p.m. that day, a Tesla with three occupants was shot at with a BB gun near Hamner Avenue and Hidden Valley Parkway. A window on the Tesla was shot out, but the vehicle's video system captured a maroon Chevrolet Trailblazer, which police and the Riverside County District Attorney's Office allege was the suspect vehicle.

The shooting was reported to police, and around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday officers tracked down the Trailblazer in a shopping center parking lot in the area of Magnolia and Tyler avenues in Riverside. The driver, Rodriguez, was arrested and a BB gun, BBs, and other related items were found in his vehicle, according to the DA's office.

“Shooting at moving vehicles with a BB gun or pellet gun while traveling at high speed on our roads or freeways is incredibly dangerous,” said Riverside County DA Mike Hestrin. “Shooting out windows of cars could easily startle drivers in traffic and cause a major accident. We are all relieved that no one was seriously injured by these crimes.”

Rodriguez is scheduled to be arraigned by video Tuesday, June 1. If convicted as currently charged, Rodriguez — who has a prior strike conviction — is facing 15 years plus 42 years to life in prison. He's being held in lieu of $750,000 bail at the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside. According to a bail enhancement request filed with the court by the California Highway Patrol, investigators have linked the defendant to seven additional cases of firing projectiles into vehicles. The specific locations of the attacks were not listed.

CHP Officer Jake Sanchez told Patch that, to his knowledge, no additional BB/pellet gun shootings have been reported since Rodriguez's arrest. There have been at least 50 incidents reported to law enforcement of vehicles shot at by a BB or pellet gun along state Route 91 in Riverside County since the middle of April. There also have been several dozen more incidents reported in Orange and Los Angeles counties.

It will take weeks, possibly months, to determine whether more charges will be filed against Rodriguez for any of the other Southland attacks.

"There are dozens more incidents still being investigated. The DA’s Office anticipates more charges could be filed in the future," Hestrin's office said. "CHP officers and investigators with the DA’s Bureau of Investigation are still investigating this case, which includes the review of many videos from freeway cameras and other cameras."

Rodriguez is no stranger to crime and has prior firearms convictions on his record out of Orange County. In 2010, he pleaded guilty to felony counts of participating in criminal street gang activity and illegally carrying a loaded firearm. In 2012, he pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a felon and admitted a street gang enhancement.

Anyone with additional information about the shooting incidents, or who may have been a victim, is asked to call the CHP tip line at 714-288-6336.