A 47-year-old man has been arrested and charged in two East Bay freeway shootings that took place on the same day last month, including one where a person was wounded, according to authorities and court records.
Damien L. Harris, who was arrested Aug. 29, has been charged with two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, two counts of shooting at an occupied motor vehicle and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
According to the California Highway Patrol and court documents, both shootings happened within an hour on the afternoon of Aug. 3 on Alameda County freeways.
The CHP said Harris declined to talk to investigators after his arrest and a motive for the shootings has not been determined. Authorities have not said if he knew the two victims.
Harris is free on $200,000 bail and is scheduled to enter a plea Sept. 16 in Alameda County Superior Court.
The shooting where a man was wounded happened about 1:30 p.m. Aug. 3 on southbound Interstate 680 near Stoneridge Drive in Pleasanton.
According to court documents, the victim was in a Jeep Laredo in stop-and-go traffic and Harris was driving a rented Toyota Tacoma. The victim was shot once in the shoulder.
The other shooting happened about 2:15 p.m. on the Industrial Parkway onramp to northbound I-880 in Hayward. A man driving a vehicle was targeted but was not wounded, the documents say.
Harris attempted to report the Toyota stolen about 5 p.m. that day to police in Fremont, where he has a residence, the documents say. The Toyota was recovered a short time afterward and three spent 9mm casings were found inside, the documents say.
CHP investigators recognized similarities in the suspect’s vehicle in the two freeway shootings and used traffic cameras, cell phone and GPS information that placed Harris and the Toyota at the scene of both shootings, the documents say.
A warrant was obtained for his arrest, as were search warrants for the Fremont home and another residence in Fairfield he also lists as an address. He was arrested Aug. 29 at the Fairfield home, where multiple guns were recovered, including a 9mm pistol.
According to court documents, Harris has two prior felony convictions. One is for assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury in Sacramento County in November 2006 and the other is for possession for sale of a controlled substance in Alameda County in December 1998. He received prison terms for both convictions.
