Inset: Andrew Watson (San Joaquin County District Attorney”s Office). Background: The strip mall where a truck crashed after Watson shot and killed the driver in Lathrop, Calif. (Google Maps).
A California man will spend the next several decades behind bars for killing an Amazon semi-truck driver during a highway shooting.
In August, a jury in San Joaquin County found Andrew Christopher Watson, 31, guilty of murder in the second degree and shooting at an occupied vehicle. Each of these convictions includes a firearm use enhancement.
On Tuesday, Superior Court Judge John R. Soldati sentenced the defendant to 40 years to life in prison, which is the harshest penalty permissible under California law, as stated in a press release from the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office.
“This was a cold-blooded act that stole a life and endangered our community,” District Attorney Ron Freitas said. “The maximum sentence of 40 years to life reflects the severity of this crime and our commitment to justice for the victim and his family, who are left in unimaginable grief.”
The shooting took the life of big rig driver Ilkhom Shodiev, 37, who hailed from Charlotte, North Carolina.
On June 15, 2023, around 12:45 p.m., Watson was driving solo on State Route 120 — an east-west highway — when he merged onto northbound Interstate 5 in Lathrop, a city approximately 10 miles south of Stockton.
Dashboard camera footage showed Watson driving erratically, swerving, and cutting into the slow lane, according to prosecutors.
Subsequently, the defendant pulled alongside the Amazon truck, took out his weapon, and unleashed a series of shots. One bullet hit Shodiev in the head, leading the truck driver to lose control, collide with two other vehicles, and eventually stop in a strip mall parking lot along the access road.
Shodiev was rushed to a nearby hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. The day of the crash was his eighth wedding anniversary.
“[His wife is] just heartbroken, crying all the time,” a friend of the victim told Sacramento-based ABC affiliate KXTV. “His kids are too small. They don’t comprehend what happened. But I’m sure once they grow up, once they learn about their father, they’ll be proud of him.”
Watson drove off after the incident, but California Highway Patrol investigators pieced together the case, prosecutors said. Using surveillance and dashcam footage, traffic cameras, witness accounts, and a partial license plate, Watson was identified as the suspect.
On June 24, 2023, the defendant was arrested at his home in Manteca, a medium-sized city located some 15 miles south of Stockton.
Cellphone and bank records placed the defendant at the crime scene, prosecutors said. Gunshot residue was also found in his vehicle.
“This senseless act of violence stole the life of a hardworking husband and father who was simply doing his job, leaving his family in profound grief,” Freitas said in a statement after Watson’s conviction earlier this year. “The CHP and our prosecution team worked tirelessly to deliver justice, ensuring the defendant faces the consequences of his savage actions.”
The slain man’s family was unable to attend the defendant’s trial – but did attend his sentencing hearing, prosecutors said.
