Late Traffic Jam in Tri-School Area Due to Wednesday's Hwy. 85 Shooter

By Bay City News Service

Investigators are still searching for a suspect in a multiple-round shooting that shattered some windows of a van driven by a Marine recruiter on state Highway 85 near Cupertino on Wednesday, a sheriff's deputy said.

The recruiter was driving an unmarked van and was wearing a jacket over his uniform, so it is unlikely that the person or persons who fired the shots did so believing the driver was with the Marines, Santa Clara County Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Jose Cardoza said.

Deputies have determined so far that "a few bullets" struck the left driver's side of the van and then shot out and shattered two rear windows on the passenger side, Cardoza said.

The shooting occurred at 12:25 p.m. and prompted the California Highway Patrol to temporarily close the southbound lanes of Highway 85 from 2:16 p.m. to 2:57 p.m. so deputies could collect evidence.

As a precaution, at least two public schools in the area, Lincoln Elementary School and Kennedy Middle School, decided on a "controlled release" of students at the end of the school day, said Jeremy Nishihara,
spokesman for the Cupertino Union School District.

The “controlled release” and additional precautions taken at Monta Vista High School caused later-than-usual traffic jams in the tri-school area, as reported by parents and neighbors.

Controlled release, where students must be picked up by parents or guardians instead of walking home from school, was chosen over a potential lockdown because the CHP's closure of the highway nearly coincided with the
schools' dismissal times, Nishihara said.

Cardoza declined comment on whether any slugs from the bullets were recovered or what kind of firearm may have been used to shoot multiple rounds at the van as it drove at around the speed limit on the highway.

The shooting remains under investigation, Cardoza said.

—Anne Ernst contributed to this report.