Teen shot on Interstate 680 in Alamo still has bullet in head

(KRON) — A 19-year-old woman shot while driving on a Bay Area freeway has lived to tell the tale about her harrowing journey — with the bullet still lodged in her head. The shooter remains on the loose.

“To me, I feel very lucky. I’m only 19. Life would be cut so short if I would have died the other day,” says Citlaly Caballero.

The freeway shooting happened shortly after midnight Thursday morning as Caballero and her two friends were driving northbound on Interstate 680 through Alamo. They were heading back to Sacramento after seeing The Weeknd perform at Levi’s Stadium.

“I heard it, and then I felt like it was in a movie,” Caballero adds. “I instantly felt it; I heard my ear ring. I feel like I couldn’t hear, and I just kept hearing, like the rounds go off. And my friends didn’t even register that we were being shot at, until was I like, ‘Oh my God call the cops,’ and they had seen me all in blood.”

“I remember seeing a car driving erratically behind me,” recalls Caballero. “And I didn’t think of too much of it until it started tailgating me. And that’s when I try to speed away from him a little more away for him, give him space. And I just remember him coming to the left, and I seen him in my mirror go on my passenger side, and then when he started shooting at my car. And that’s when he broke my window, shot at my tires. And then after that, I had realized, ‘Oh, this guy, or whoever it was, shot me in the back of my head.'”

Caballero says the shooters continued firing but stayed on the freeway as she exited onto Stone Valley Road and brought the car to a stop.

“At this time, the investigation is still ongoing, so uncovering a motive in this is obviously one of the most important things we need to find right now,” says Sgt. Andrew Barclay of California Highway Patrol.

The CHP will review any video either captured by the car or freeway cameras and hope to hear from witnesses as well.

“Sometimes the smallest detail that somebody is able to provide to us can end up being one of the most important pieces of our case,” says Sgt. Barclay. “So please, if you think you saw something, pick up the phone and let us know.”

Caballero hopes the shooter will be brought to justice. In the meantime, the bullet remains lodged in her head as doctors say it’s safer to leave it there than try and extract it. While she continues to experience some pain, she says she’s ready to continue living her life.

Watch the full report from KRON4’s Dan Kerman in the video player above.