SAN DIEGO (CNS) - Firefighters battling a rubbish fire under a freeway ramp next to Interstate 5 found a dead person, and witnesses told police of a man seen running away with a gas can.
Arson investigators, police officers and the California Highway Patrol were called just after 8 a.m. to under the elevated ramps at Interstate 5 at Clairemont Drive, near Mission Bay Park, according to San Diego Fire-Rescue Department spokesman Lee Swanson.
It took firefighters from one engine only a few minutes to put out the 6-foot by 6-foot fire, before they made the discovery, Swanson said.
Witnesses told firefighters and police they saw a white man in his 40s to 50s running across the freeway lanes, from the railroad tracks area towards Mission Bay, carrying a gas can. He was described as wearing a brown coat, green Army hat and tan khaki pants.
The body was located under the northbound 5's offramp bridge to Claremont Drive.
Interstate 5 and nearby Morena Boulevard were briefly closed by the CHP and San Diego police while the investigation continued.
