PRUNEDALE (KRON) — Shortly before 5 p.m. Monday a van carrying six people was hit by an object as it passed San Juan Road exit off Highway 101 near the red barn.
No one was hurt but a window was shattered, according to CHP Officer Jessica Madueno.
“The van was traveling southbound and was struck in the rear driver’s side window,” Madueno said.
Last Friday, a school bus carrying the Carmel High School football team
was hit.
There have been five minor injuries associated with 42 such attacks since February.
“So this is happening both northbound and southbound along the 101 in the Prunedale area,” Madueno said. “We’ve seen a few along Highway 156 near the Oak Hills area, but the majority of them are happening along 156 to the Monterey County line.”
Worried about copycats, the CHP won’t say exactly what is hitting the vehicles.
Highway neighbor Freddie Trefilo says he is scared to get behind the wheel these days.
“It could be some sort of a gun or something, slingshot — I don’t know,” he said. “I just don’t think [they’re] throwing a rock of an overpass.”
Others suggest the random nature of the attacks on different stretches of highway suggest the projectiles may be coming from another vehicle.
The CHP has not ruled that out.
“It can be someone on the side of the road, it can be someone in a vehicle. That is still under investigation and we are considering both different situations,” Madueno said.
The CHP has stepped up its presence from san juan road to Crazy Horse Canyon and into Prunedale along Highway 156.
There’s little drivers can do to avoid being targeted, but people are scared and want the attacks to stop.
“Whoever it is — they’re sick and they need to go to jail. And they need to put more of an effort out here before somebody does get killed and it’s scary, putting people’s lives at stake,” a Prunedale resident told KRON4.