Gunfire hits 5 autos, hurts two on I-64

Gunshots struck five vehicles on a stretch of Interstate 64 west of Charlottesville, injuring two motorists and prompting officials to close nearby schools and increase police presence along the highway.

Investigators hunted for two or more people in the shootings, which closed I-64 for six hours for 20 miles from Charlottesville to Waynesboro. Police also had a possible lead on a vehicle used in the shootings: an AMC Gremlin seen on a surveillance camera near a credit union in Waynesboro, where evidence of gunshots was found.

“To call it a sniper incident -- I wouldn’t,” Col. Steven Flaherty of the Virginia State Police said at a news conference. “It doesn’t appear, at this point in time, to give us that tone of accuracy” as the shootings in 2002, which terrorized the Washington area.