See Update No. 3 at the end of this post on the charges against and potential punishment for Jerry Valentin. Update No. 2 identified him as the alleged 91 freeway shooter. Update No. 1 provided more details on the incident.
ORIGINAL POST, AUG. 4, 5:05 P.M.: No sooner had we hit the send button on a report about charges against the alleged fatal shooter of a complete stranger on the 91 freeway in Anaheim last month than there was a new report of a shooting on the 91 in Anaheim Hills that left at least one person injured and at least one person in custody this afternoon.
]
That's what KCAL/Channel 9 just aired before signing off, based on a helicopter reporter over the scene.
Check back for updates.
UPDATE NO. 1, AUG. 4, 5:49 P.M.: It is believed a traffic dispute in slow-moving eastbound traffic on the 91 freeway near Harbor Boulevard led to the car-to-car shooting that injured a man in a white SUV near the interchange with the 5 freeway in Fullerton and the arrest of a second man being detained east of Weir Canyon in Anaheim Hills.
So, the Fullerton Police Department is taking the lead on the 4:30 p.m. shooting, according to Lt. Bob Dunn of the Anaheim Police Department, whose officers assisted in the arrest of the alleged shooter, as did the California Highway Patrol's.
UPDATE NO. 2, AUG. 5, NOON: Jerry Valentin has been identified as the man arrested after Monday's 91 freeway shooting, although the charges against the 32-year-old resident of Scottsdale, Ariz., have not been released.
Valentin was initially detained and taken to the Fullerton Police Department (FPD) for questioning after the late afternoon incident that spanned the eastbound 91 between Fullerton and Anaheim Hills. The arrest was not confirmed until today.
An unidentified man in his 50s had called 9-1-1 to say he had been shot in the upper part of his body while driving his white SUV and was chasing the suspect vehicle.
The victim is expected to survive his injuries, according to police.
UPDATE NO. 3, AUG. 6, 11:36 A.M.: Prosecutors announced they will seek bail of $1 million at Jerry Valentin's arraignment some time today and that a conviction could send the Scottsdale, Arizona, man to state prison for 25 years to life.
Those charges are: one felony count each of attempted murder, shooting at an occupied vehicle, aggravated assault, unlawful possession of an unregistered firearm inside a vehicle, with sentencing enhancements for personal discharge of a firearm causing great bodily injury, personal use of a firearm, and great bodily injury.
An arraignment statement from the Orange County District Attorney's office (OCDA) indicates 32-year-old Valentin allegedly swerved his vehicle toward the shooting victim's SUV before taking out a handgun loaded with shotgun rounds and firing at least one round at the driver's side of the SUV.
The other driver, described by Anaheim Police as a man in his 50s expected to survive his injuries, had previously been said to have been hit by gunfire in the upper part of his body. The OCDA reveals the victim was hit in the arm and torso with shotgun pellets fired from the handgun.
Deputy District Attorney Chris Duff, the case's prosecutor, told City News Service that witnesses saw both vehicles swerve at one another but a motive for that and the shooting remain a mystery. Neither Valentin or the victim knew one another, Duff added.
Email: mc****@oc******.com. Twitter: @MatthewTCoker. Follow OC Weekly on Twitter @ocweekly or on Facebook!
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.