California ice cream truck driver shot in apparent robbery

A neighborhood ice cream man was shot multiple times in his truck by a suspected robber on Monday afternoon.

The shooting was reported at about 3:40 p.m. on Cecil Way near Tully Road about a half-mile north of Modesto Junior College.

The victim, an adult male, apparently was shot at least three times in the mid- to lower part of his body. He was alert and talking with emergency workers as he was placed on a stretcher and taken by ambulance to a local hospital.

The suspect, described as a black male with a thin build and something covering his face, tried to rob the ice cream truck drive before shooting him, according to Heather Graves, spokeswoman for the Modesto Police Department.

The suspect then got into a vehicle witnesses described as a silver SUV and fled.

The suspect arrived at the ice cream truck on foot. There was no immediate details regarding if he drove away in the vehicle on his own or if someone picked him up.

Police stopped a vehicle about 30 minutes later a few blocks south of the shooting scene. They held the man there but later determined he was not involved.

Daniel Reader, who lives in a nearby apartment, said he had his window opened and heard the shots.

“I heard the music from the ice cream truck and then the shots,” he said. “Then, the truck stayed in place because the music wasn’t moving. It wasn’t going anywhere.”

Carlos Prado, who lives in a nearby apartment, said he heard the music, then “boom, boom, boom” and finally the screeching sounds of the back tire as the vehicle sped off.

This story was originally published April 25, 2016 at 11:19 PM with the headline "California ice cream truck driver shot in apparent robbery."