A man was arrested early Sunday morning following a road rage incident that escalated into a shooting and traffic collision in the Recreation Park area, which left one woman with gunshot wounds and at least two others injured, according to police.
Jean Claude Lewis, a 48-year-old Long Beach resident, was arrested at 2:54 a.m. after police say he was driving the first of two vehicles involved in an alleged road rage incident.
Police say they first responded to the area of East Seventh Street and Park Avenue at approximately 2:33 a.m. Sunday morning regarding a traffic collision involving two vehicles, but later found evidence, including casings, that showed an “exchange of gunfire.”
After investigating, officers determined that one of the vehicles involved in the collision had exchanged gunfire with another vehicle before the crash, allegedly due to road rage. After the shooting began, the first vehicle collided with a third, uninvolved vehicle, and the uninvolved vehicle then collided into an unoccupied residence, according to the LBPD. The occupants of the first and second vehicles—the ones that allegedly shot at each other—then fled the scene prior to officers’ arrival, police said.
Following reports of a gunshot victim at a local hospital, officers contacted three adults who had been occupants of the first vehicle, according to the LBPD.
One of the them, a woman, sustained non-life-threatening gunshot wounds to the upper and lower body, while the other two occupants sustained non-life-threatening injuries as a result of the collision, according to police.
Officers then determined that Lewis had been the driver of the first vehicle and arrested him and seized a gun, according to police.
Lewis was arrested on one count of carrying a loaded firearm and one count of driving with a suspended license, according to the LBPD.
Bail for Lewis was set at $60,000.
The driver of the second vehicle remains outstanding, according to police.
The investigation is ongoing.