SAN DIEGO, California — A stolen-vehicle pursuit that began in Riverside County on Wednesday evening, November 4, 2026, ran south down Interstate 5 to the Mexican border, ended in a shooting that San Diego police are investigating, and forced the California Highway Patrol to close the San Ysidro Port of Entry, according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Office and NBC 7 San Diego. The suspect was arrested near the border; the suspect's condition had not been confirmed in the first reports, and no Riverside County sheriff's deputies were injured.
The chase began at about 6:46 p.m., when Riverside County Sheriff's deputies tried to stop a stolen vehicle near Van Buren Boulevard and Clay Street in Jurupa Valley, the sheriff's office said. The driver failed to yield, and the pursuit continued through Jurupa Valley and onto westbound State Route 91, then turned south onto Interstate 5 and crossed into San Diego County — a run across two counties on the West Coast's main north–south freeway before ending in San Ysidro, the San Diego community at the border crossing.
A shooting at the end of the chase — and what is not confirmed
Near the border, law enforcement arrested the suspect, NBC 7 reported. San Diego Police were investigating a shooting connected with the end of the pursuit; at about 8 p.m., multiple officers and an ambulance could be seen in the lanes of the border crossing. The first reports did not confirm the suspect's condition, did not say who fired, and did not identify the suspect — details that sit at the centre of the San Diego police investigation. Readers should treat any wider account of the shooting as unconfirmed until the police or the sheriff's office release one.
The traffic fallout: I-5 blocked, crossing closed
At about 8:45 p.m., a traffic collision blocked lanes on southbound Interstate 5 on Camino De La Plaza, the last stretch of the freeway before the crossing, and Caltrans said traffic was being diverted to State Route 905. At about 9:20 p.m., the California Highway Patrol posted on X that it had closed the San Ysidro Port of Entry for an unknown duration, advised drivers to use alternative routes, and told border crossers to use the Otay Mesa Port of Entry instead. The first reports did not give a reopening time.
Why this crossing matters
San Ysidro is where Interstate 5 meets Mexico: the freeway runs from the border at San Diego the length of California, Oregon and Washington to Canada, and the San Ysidro crossing with Tijuana is one of the busiest land border crossings in the world for passenger vehicles and pedestrians. Otay Mesa, the diversion point named by the CHP, is San Diego's second crossing and the region's commercial port of entry — the one trucks use. A Wednesday-night closure at San Ysidro therefore lands on two groups at once: the thousands of cross-border commuters and families who use the passenger lanes, and the freight and trucking traffic that plans its night around the Otay Mesa alternative.
Interstate 5 is the spine of California trucking — the route Punjabi drivers run between the Central Valley, Los Angeles and San Diego, and down to the border freight crossings. A pursuit that shuts the freeway's final lanes and closes San Ysidro, pushing all traffic to State Route 905 and Otay Mesa, is the kind of night-time disruption that strands trucks and commuters alike, and it is why Awaaz Punjab tracks I-5 incidents from the border to Sacramento.
How the pursuit was run
The Riverside County Sheriff's Office said deputies attempted the original stop in Jurupa Valley and that the driver failed to yield; aviation crews and a K-9 unit assisted in the pursuit, and no sheriff's deputies were injured during the incident. The chase passed from Riverside County into San Diego County on I-5, and the arrest was made near the border in San Ysidro, where San Diego police took up the shooting investigation — the standard division of work when an incident ends inside the city of San Diego.
What happens next
San Diego police are continuing to investigate the shooting, and the open questions are the suspect's identity and condition, who fired and why, what charges follow the arrest, and when the San Ysidro Port of Entry fully reopens. The Riverside County Sheriff's Office is expected to release the suspect's identity and the charges arising from the stolen vehicle and the pursuit itself. Drivers and crossers heading for the border should check CHP and Caltrans updates before travelling. Awaaz Punjab will update this story when the police name the suspect or confirm the shooting's circumstances.