Rancho Bernardo Man Also Shot At on 163 Freeway

A 42-year-old Rancho Bernardo man is now the second person connected to a shooting on Route 163 on Tuesday that injured a college student on her way to campus.

The man was not injured in the shooting, according to a statement from the California Highway Patrol. The man alerted the CHP on Wednesday morning to the additional shooting. About 20 minutes before the college student was shot, a bullet pierced the man's black 2010 Volkswagen Passat, officials said. Investigators determined that a hole in the vehicle's rear window frame was caused by a small-caliber bullet, according to the CHP.

On Tuesday around 7:30 a.m., a 21-year-old University of San Diego student called her mother and told her she was having trouble breathing, USD spokeswoman Pamela Gray Payton said. The Escondido woman had been driving southbound on Route 163 near Balboa Avenue.

The woman's mother then called 911 and medics met the student near USD and took her to the hospital for emergency surgery for a rib cage wound. The victim, whose name has not been released, told authorities she had been driving in the far left-hand southbound lane of the freeway near Balboa Avenue when she felt pain in her right side, San Diego Police Detective Gary Hassen said. Officials later found a bullet hole in the passenger side door of the woman's silver 2006 Toyota Matrix.

Officials believe the same unidentified shooter is responsible for both incidents. Police closed a portion of Route 163 on Tuesday to investigate, and reported finding about 10 bullet casings between Clairemont Mesa Boulevard and Balboa Avenue.

City News Service contributed to this report.

Editor's note: City News Service incorrectly reported the name of the man involved in the incident. That name appeared in an earlier edition of this story. Patch regrets the error.

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