A 6-year-old boy was fatally shot in a road rage incident on Friday, authorities said.
Florentino Olivera, a California Highway Patrol (CHP) officer, told reporters on Friday that a mother was driving a Chevrolet sedan north on State Route 55 in Orange County.
Her 6-year-old son was in the right rear passenger seat, sitting in booster seat.
Olivera said there was “some type of road rage incident” during which the boy was shot. The officer said police did not have the details of what exactly occurred before the shooting.
“Unfortunately the boy in the backseat was shot,” Olivera said. “He was transported to the hospital, and unfortunately he was pronounced deceased.”
Authorities don’t know how many shots were fired. The mother was not hurt in the incident, Olivera said.
The incident occurred just before 8 a.m. on Friday and appeared to be an isolated road rage incident, Olivera said.
Olivera said authorities were looking for a white sedan. He asked anyone who was driving on the highway between 7:55 a.m. and 8:15 a.m. to provide CHP with details, particularly if anyone had dashboard camera footage.
Olivera said the incident was unrelated to a series of recent window shatterings. According to a local ABC affiliate, more than 80 reported shootings have been reported on California freeways since April.