A woman who witnessed a hit-and-run in Mission Viejo, California, was shot after following a truck that fled the scene.
The shooting was preceded June 27 by reports of reckless driving near La Paz and Olympiad, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) said. Soon after, about 7:40 p.m., the erratic driver crashed his truck into another vehicle near La Paz and Marguerite.
An eyewitness to the accident followed the truck as it continued into the intersection of La Paz and Commerce Center. As she drove past the driver, he fired several shots into her car, police said.
One struck the victim’s foot, said OCSD spokesperson Todd Hylton.
“We got numerous calls about the vehicle and the erratic driving, and then soon after that we got a call of the shooting,” Hylton told The Epoch Times.
Police said the shooter had been involved in a domestic violence incident in San Clemente earlier that evening but left the scene before officers arrived.
“About 10 minutes after that call, we received a call about a reckless driver [in Mission Viejo], and that vehicle matched the description of the subject from the San Clemente incident,” Hylton said.
“After the shooting, he fled on foot. ... He fled up the hillside, and he was located [there]. We positioned the deputies at the top of the hill and he was taken into custody.”
Police recovered the gun used in the shooting, he said. The gunman, Aliso Viejo resident Michael French, 29, was arrested.
The victim’s injury was non-life-threatening. She didn’t know the gunman, police said.
