SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In a terrifying moment along Interstate 80 near Vacaville, a seven-year-old was shot and hospitalized Monday.
The child is expected to survive, but the incident is part of a disturbing trend of highway shootings in California.
"The number of shootings has increased in the last few years," said Eunice Roh with the non-partisan Legislative Analyst's Office, adding that highway shootings increased from 210 in 2019 to 471 in 2021, citing CHP statistics.
The office said shootings have increased in all eight CHP geographic divisions across the state, except the Northern division, which is a relatively rural area.
In February, Governor Gavin Newsom proposed $4 million to support CHP's Highway Violence Task Force.
Roh said the funds would mainly be used toward overtime for existing CHP officers. In turn, she said it would increase the hours officers are on road patrol duty and concentrates the overtime on locations where crimes have been happening.
The Vacaville shooting comes six months after a deadly road rage incident on Interstate 5 in Sacramento.
It also comes almost a year after the shooting of a party bus in Oakland that resulted in the deaths of 16-year-old Zoey Hughes of Modesto and 19-year-old Alayshia Thurston of Stockton. Hughes' mother told ABC10 that there still have not been any arrests in her daughter's killing.
The Legislative Analyst's Office said the governor's proposal to provide resources to CHP to address highway violence has merit. However, it said it was unclear whether funding overtime is the most efficient solution.
"Funding for investigative supports included in the Governor’s proposal, such as training, IT, and equipment, could help gather more comprehensive crime analytics and analyze the factors behind the rising incidence of highway shootings," the office wrote in its assessment.
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