SANTA CRUZ — A jury found a Hayward man with a history of violent confrontations, including shooting into the car of a family of five last year on Highway 1, guilty of attempted murder.
The jury, after two weeks of testimony and a day of deliberations, returned on Friday afternoon with guilty verdicts against Raphael Abduh-Salam, 33, on additional felony charges of shooting into a vehicle, two counts of assault with a semiautomatic weapon and illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition, plus several enhancements.
On May 26, 2023, Abduh-Salam and a Scotts Valley family were traveling southbound on Highway 1, where Abduh-Salam was reportedly driving erratically. After the two cars were involved in a minor fender-bender, they exited the highway onto the Freedom Boulevard offramp, where Abduh-Salam was said to have stopped his vehicle perpendicular to the other vehicle, before rolling down his window and firing 15 shots toward the family, according to testimony.
Bullets struck and injured the driver and family’s father, as well as a 3-year-old child in the backseat. A third bullet entered the headrest of the backseat above an 8-month-old child’s car seat.
Though the jury sided with the prosecution’s case that Abduh-Salam was attempting to murder the driver, they threw out charges of attempted murder against the two children.
Abduh-Salam, who remains held without bail in Santa Cruz County Jail, returns to court for a status conference in Department 4 at 8:30 a.m., Aug. 26.