Highland shooting

HIGHLAND -- A stranded motorist was shot several times Wednesday afternoon on East Pacific Street near Del Rosa Avenue, leading three schools to go on lockdown and prompting a search that ended with an arrest.

Robert Eugene Coleman, 21, of San Bernardino was taken into custody in connection with the shooting around 3 p.m. by

sheriff's deputies after a search on land and by air, authorities said. He was booked into Central Detention Center in San Bernardino.

The motive for the shooting, which occurred in the 25400 block of East Pacific, was unknown.

San Gorgonio and Pacific high schools, as well as St. Rodriguez Prep Academy, were locked down, said sheriff's spokeswoman Jodi Miller.

The motorist was driving a dark minivan that had mechanical problems. It left him stranded in the middle of the street minutes before the shooting, sheriff's officials said.

He was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening wounds, Miller said.

Sheriff's deputies were searching an apartment complex near Guthrie and 19th streets when Coleman was taken into custody. The suspected getaway car, a white Buick Regal, was found abandoned on the sidewalk at Argyle Avenue and 18th Street, authorities said.

The sheriff's helicopter, known as 40-King, aided deputies as they searched the area.

Armed with assault rifles, deputies were seen conducting door-to-door searches of homes on Guthrie Street.

The school lockdowns were lifted after Coleman's

arrest, Miller said.

During the early part of the investigation, deputies heard multiple shots being fired in the 6900 block of Del Rosa. With 40-King circling above, deputies along with San Bernardino police officers, raced to the area.

"The shooting was completely unrelated to the first shooting call," Miller said.

Deputies questioned several homeowners, but that shooter was never located, Miller said.

One resident of the Guthrie Street area is scared and fed up. "We're finally moving from the neighborhood to escape the violence in the area," said Juan Lopez. "We found a home in the Yucaipa area. The violence has escalated here so much we're afraid to leave our home. "

Lopez said that now that all of his children are grown and out of the house, it's time to make a life for himself his wife, Ermina.

"I'm retiring next year," he said, "and we want a life in a place where the ghetto-bird (sheriff's helicopter) doesn't circle the neighborhood every night."

Squad G's.