Feds charge suspect in freeway shooting near Bay Bridge with gun possession

SAN FRANCISCO — A San Mateo man who federal prosecutors say is suspected of pursuing and shooting at a man on Bay Area freeways last March has been charged in federal court with illegal gun possession, court records show.

Joel Francis Labrador was charged July 2 with being a felon in possession of a firearm, the same day authorities searched his home and reportedly found a loaded Ruger LCP .380 Auto pistol in his bedroom. If convicted of the lone charge, he faces up to 10 in federal prison and a $250,000 fine, court records show.

But last week, federal prosecutors revealed in a motion to keep Labrador in federal detention that he is the “suspected shooter” in a March 25 incident, in which a man was shot at on three separate occasions, culminating with a shooting just west of the Bay Bridge toll plaza, in which the victim’s car was struck. No injuries were reported, authorities said.

Labrador has not been charged in the March 25 shooting, according to court records.

The shooting started at around 8 p.m., when the victim was driving on I-880 northbound. He reported to police that a car — which authorities later determined was registered to Labrador — pulled up alongside him and the driver fired multiple times. The victim sped away but was fired at again on the same freeway.

Then, after moving onto I-80 and going through a Bay Bridge toll booth, the victim was fired at approximately five times, with gunfire striking the car. The victim reported hearing 11-12 shots in total, and an off-duty San Francisco cop witnessed the final shooting, according to federal prosecutors.

After the shooting, police began conducting surveillance on Labrador, including placing a GPS tracking device on his car. License plate readers to the car also indicated the vehicle was in Los Angeles and Phoenix, Arizona roughly two weeks after the shooting.

Interestingly, authorities said the gun used in the freeway shooting was linked through a ballistics test to a “Glock type .40 caliber handgun recovered from an Antioch Police Department arrest of an individual on June 16, 2020.” The person arrested in Antioch June 16 was not identified in court records.

Labrador was not allowed to possess guns in part because of numerous gun-related convictions going back nearly 20 years, prosecutors said.

“In 2003, Labrador was convicted of carrying a loaded firearm in a public place. In 2009, Labrador received two convictions for felon in possession of a firearm. In 2017, Labrador was convicted of being a felon/addict in possession of a firearm, stemming from a January 2016 arrest,” assistant U.S. Attorney Kristina Green wrote in the motion. “Separately, also in 2017, he was convicted of a series of offenses stemming from a June 2016 arrest, including felon/addict in possession of a firearm, carrying a concealed weapon in a vehicle, possession of ammunition by a prohibited person, carrying a loaded firearm in public, possession of a controlled substance while armed, and possession of a controlled substance.”

Labrador is next due in court on July 21, for a case status update and preliminary hearing, court records show.