A rideshare driver shot and wounded a naked man who was allegedly attacking a young woman outside an apartment complex in Stanton, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Department.
The incident occurred at 7:49 p.m. Sunday, when the driver had just dropped off a passenger in the 7100 block of Custer Way, said Sgt. Matthew Parrish, spokesman for the sheriff's department.
The driver, he said, saw a naked man hitting a woman and rolled down his window to yell at her to intervene.
“That diverted the attacker's attention to the driver and he began to approach the vehicle,” Parrish said. “At some point the shooting occurred.”
He said investigators are looking into what led up to the shooting and also whether the man was under the influence of drugs or experiencing a mental health crisis. The investigation will also determine whether the driver was licensed to carry a gun and what charges, if any, may be filed against the naked man, authorities said.
A witness who lives in the area told ABC7 that he saw the man assaulting the woman before the shooting occurred.
“I saw the man hitting the woman, like he was on top of her, hitting the woman,” he said. “So I yelled out the window, I said, 'Hey, leave it,' and I ran out and when I got out, I saw him hitting the car, but he was completely naked.”
Parrish said the rideshare driver stayed at the scene and reported the shooting to a sheriff's dispatcher. Arriving officers discovered a 20-year-old man with a gunshot wound and began performing life-saving measures until fire paramedics took him to a hospital. The man was listed in critical but stable condition.
The woman, also 20, was treated for minor injuries she suffered during the attack and was released at the scene.
The rideshare driver was interviewed by investigators and later released. The department did not say which ride-sharing company the man worked for, but other media outlets reported that he worked for Uber.
Parrish said the department was withholding the suspect's name for now. The department also did not identify the driver or the young woman.
