Cameras Approved For Highway 4 Corridor In Pittsburg

UPDATED 1:00PM-

PITTSBURG - The Pittsburg City Council voted Monday to take on a project to address the flurry of East Bay highway violence by installing a surveillance system along a stretch of state Highway 4.

A project brought forward by the Pittsburg Police Department that earmarks $100,000 for several security cameras on four miles of Highway 4 was approved by the City Council, according to the city clerk's office.

The project is the city's response to a trend of 20-plus shootings that have been reported on or near highways in Contra Costa and Alameda counties since November, the most recent of which was only hours prior to the City Council's Monday meeting.

A shooting occurred shortly before 3 p.m. on Antioch surface streets in which there were no apparent victims but four suspects were arrested.

The suspects had fled in two separate vehicles on Highway 4 and the shooting may have continued there, as there were reports of gunfire on the highway near Pittsburg that the California Highway Patrol closed westbound lanes between Railroad Avenue and Loveridge Road to investigate.

Last Wednesday, a woman identified as 25-year-old Shanique Marie died as a result of a shooting on westbound Highway 4 near Railroad Avenue in Pittsburg. A man was also injured in that shooting.

Little more than a mile down westbound Highway 4 in Pittsburg, near Loveridge Road, 28-year-old Antioch resident Uriel Reynoso Moreno was found fatally shot on April 19 in a bullet-riddled vehicle.

-Bay City News

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(original story)

PITTSBURG - New surveillance cameras proposed for the Highway 4 corridor in which there have been repeated shootings were approved Monday night by the Pittsburg City Council.

According to ABC7, the Council voted to appropriate $100,000 for the new cameras.

The television station says the city intends to put two cameras on property along the freeway, the same type of cameras that Pittsburg already has throughout the city.

There have been at least three other shootings on Highway 4 since November 2015 and 18 or more across various highways in Alameda and Contra Costa counties in a recent flurry of highway violence, according to Bay City News.

"They need more cameras everywhere, just so they can catch these people because it's Just ridiculous, this is out of control," Pittsburg resident Alicia Moore told the station.

Also on Patch:

• Woman Killed In Highway 4 Shooting Was Mother To 4 Children
• Woman Killed In Pittsburg Highway Shooting Is Identified
• Shootings on Highway 4 Continue: 1 Killed Near Pittsburg
• Motorist Shot To Death In Pittsburg On Highway 4

Prior to the meeting, the California Highway Patrol emphasized that the shooting incidents appear to be targeted acts of violence, and that there is no information to indicate that the public is being targeted at random.

PROPOSED PITTSBURG FREEWAY CAMERAS

The California Highway Patrol (CHP) is committed to ensuring the safe and efficient flow of traffic throughout the Bay Area region. The CHP wishes to emphasize that these shooting incidents appear to be targeted acts of violence; we have no information to indicate that the public is being targeted at random. Every act of violence committed by these criminals puts the people of California at risk, and in the case of freeway shootings, particularly endangers innocent motorists.

The California Highway Patrol, Golden Gate Division’s Investigative Services Unit is working in close coordination with detectives and investigators from our allied law enforcement agencies throughout the area. As part of this ongoing engagement, a proposal to install cameras along the Highway 4 corridor to combat criminal activity will be proposed before the Pittsburg City Council this evening. This proposal is in its early stages at a local level. Any plan shared with the CHP will be evaluated in detail.

The California Highway Patrol is asking for help from the public. Anyone with information regarding any of these recent shootings, or those who may know more about the victims or suspects is asked to contact the CHP via our non-emergency tip line at 1-800-TELL-CHP (1-800-835-5247) or to contact our Special Investigations Unit at (510) 622-4609.

-image via Dmitry G and in the public domain