1st Freeway Suspect Faces Attempted Murder Trial

In a move to dramatize the serious consequences of highway violence, attempted murder was added Monday to the charges against a 31-year-old Canyon Country man accused of firing the first shots in the current outbreak of Southern California freeway gunfire.

Ramon San-Miguel Santos, accused of firing at a motorcyclist on the Antelope Valley Freeway on June 18, was ordered to stand trial for attempted murder, assault with a firearm and shooting at an occupied vehicle.

San-Miguel Santos was not originally charged with attempted murder, but “after analyzing exactly what occurred,” it was decided to “prosecute him fully,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. James A. Baker.

“It’s a reflection of the seriousness of what’s been happening on the freeways that we’re going to hold people who shoot at cars completely accountable,” Baker said.

“Maybe if we do, and people realize they could go to prison for life, they’ll think twice.”

If San-Miguel Santos is convicted of attempted first-degree murder, he could be sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole, Baker said.

San-Miguel Santos’ attorney, Martin E. Green, said his client is not guilty and called the charges “so overfiled, it’s a joke.”

“The district attorney’s office is just trying to make a name for itself,” the lawyer said.

San-Miguel Santos was arrested June 18 in connection with the first incident in the recent rash of more than 30 freeway shootings in the Los Angeles area, Baker said.

A 37-year-old witness from Saugus testified during Monday’s preliminary hearing that he saw a man pull over to the shoulder of the northbound Antelope Freeway about 6:30 p.m., get out of his car and fire three shots at motorcyclist Alvin Allen, 30, of Valencia.

Allen said the altercation began earlier on the northbound Golden State Freeway when a man in a Mazda RX7 refused to let him pass. Ten minutes later, when Allen had pulled onto the Antelope Freeway and was smiling and waving at a woman in a Volvo, the Mazda came up behind him and tried to force him off the road, he said.

A high-speed chase at 100 m.p.h. began, Baker said, until Allen slowed to take the San Fernando Road exit, and the driver of the Mazda allegedly stopped his car and fired three shots. The witness from Saugus jotted down San-Miguel Santos’ license plate number, Baker said.

San-Miguel Santos, who is in custody in lieu of $50,000 bail, is scheduled for arraignment in San Fernando Superior Court on Aug. 24.