Driver at center of I-10 shutdown dies from gunshot wounds

A man involved in a shooting with two California Highway Patrol officers near Interstate 10 in Indio died, police said Tuesday.

The man, Robert Shirar, 32, of Orange, Calif., crashed a pickup truck into the median on eastbound I-10 near Jefferson Street shortly before 5 a.m. Monday and did something to prompt the CHP officers to open fire, said Indio police spokesman Ben Guitron.

CHP officers dispatched to the accident found a man — possibly the pickup driver
— under an overpass.

“Something happened that turned it into an officer-involved shooting,” Guitron said. “We don’t know what took place between the officers and the person, but it did turn into a shooting incident.”

Westbound lanes were closed in the area until about 3 p.m.

Guitron said the Indio Police Department would handle the shooting investigation, and the CHP would investigate the wreck, Guitron said.

On his wife’s Facebook page on Tuesday, friends and family comforted a wife who was expecting the day to be joyful.

“Today was our one-year anniversary,” she wrote in a post. “I will always and forever love you, Robert.

“If I didn’t say it often, I love you. You meant everything to me. May God keep you safe. RIP my love. Remember you where the only one for me.”