INTERSTATE 5 (KGTV) — Interstate 5 reopened Saturday after being closed for hours following a police pursuit that began in Buena Park and ended with an officer-involved shooting near Camp Pendleton in Oceanside.
The incident started Saturday morning when Buena Park Police officers attempted to pull over a driver for a vehicle code violation. The driver led officers through Orange County, Long Beach and back into Orange County on southbound Interstate 5.
The California Highway Patrol took over the pursuit, which ended in gunfire on southbound I-5 near Camp Pendleton. No officers were injured in the shooting.
The closures on both sides of the interstate caused massive traffic backups, with hundreds of cars stuck for miles and delays lasting several hours.
Luis Bravo was traveling from Irvine to San Diego when he got caught in the backup. A trip that should have taken an hour and a half stretched to several hours.
"That just delayed the whole, my whole schedule, my whole day is kind of ruined for the morning," Bravo said. "So I mean my thing is just to make it back home safe. That's a positive thing."
Luis Campos was also stuck in the roadblock during his drive from Los Angeles to San Diego. He had been in his car for 5 hours by the time he spoke about the delays.
"We're stuck on the freeway for like 2 or 3 hours. I'm being in the car 5 hours already for 5 hours. I leave LA area probably like 8 o'clock until now," Campos said.
When asked how he felt about the traffic, Campos was direct about his frustration.
"That was killing this morning. That was terrible, terrible," Campos said.
As for Bravo, he was anticipating a long drive back home to Irvine after the delays.
"Now I'm just gonna take the 5 north and just be in traffic, you know, I'm already programmed mentally to be stuck in traffic until I make it back home," Bravo said.
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