A man was shot in the face while driving in Vallejo Saturday, according to dispatch audio, making him at least the fourth person shot while driving in the city in the past 10 weeks.
The shooting occurred on Avian Drive near Tennesee Street in East Vallejo around 6:25 p.m., according to dispatch audio. The victim told police that he then drove to Admiral Callaghan Lane and Kathy Ellen Drive, more than two miles from the scene of the shooting, where officers found him suffering from at least one gunshot wound. He was alert, walking, and talking when medics encountered him, and was taken to a local hospital by ambulance.
At least three other people have been shot while driving in Vallejo this summer, Open Vallejo research shows. All of the shootings occurred in the vicinity of Tennessee Street, a major thoroughfare that runs from west to east through the city.
The violence began around midday on July 5, when a man was shot and killed in his car at the intersection of Tennessee and Humboldt Streets. Less than two weeks later, around 12:36 p.m. on July 16, Vallejo police responded to the intersection of Tennessee Street and Vervais Avenue for a report of a crash and shooting. There they found 48-year-old Sharmell Mitchell, the oldest sister of Willie McCoy, with a severe head wound caused by the collision; she died three days later.
Investigators ultimately determined that Mitchell had also been struck by gunfire, her attorney Melissa Nold said in an interview Saturday. Vallejo police and Sacramento County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a suspect in connection with Mitchell’s death last month.
Vallejo police have themselves nearly been caught up in the lethal violence. At around 1 a.m. on Aug. 17, two Vallejo police officers at the intersection of Tennessee Street and Mare Island Way heard gunshots coming from the area of nearby Harbor Way. As they approached the scene, the officers’ vehicle began taking gunfire, according to police. At least one bullet or bullet fragment penetrated the vehicle and struck an in-car computer between the two officers, who were not injured.
Sources with knowledge of the matter identified the victims of the Aug. 17 shooting as Vallejo Police Ofc. Pablo Lopez and his trainee. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation. Lopez took at least a week off following his near-death experience, sources said, but was present at the scene of the shooting on Saturday.
Saturday’s shooting came just over a week after a woman was killed in the same area as Lopez and his partner’s close call. Just after midnight on Sept. 6, Vallejo police responded to a collision with reports of gunfire at the intersection of Tennessee Street and Mare Island Way. Officers found Stephany Lok Poon trapped in the driver’s seat of a heavily-damaged 2005 Honda Accord, suffering from at least one gunshot wound. A GoFundMe has been set up to provide financial assistance to her family.
Vallejo police spokesperson Sgt. Rashad Hollis declined to comment for this article. Police have announced no arrests in any of the shootings other than Mitchell’s.
