NORTHERN CALIFORNIA — A 15-year-old boy survived more than 30 hours alone in the Tahoe National Forest in Northern California as he hid from a gunman who shot and killed his father and wounded two other individuals in separate ambush shootings.
The teenage survivor was identified as Jack Gershman. It unclear what actions he took to survive his harrowing ordeal in the Sierra wilderness. He was rescued Saturday, according to the Sierra County Sheriff’s Office.
“The juvenile was found in good health and did not need medical treatment,” the sheriff’s office said Sunday.
Jack called on a cellphone to report that his father had been shot and that he had fled the area on foot and had become lost, the sheriff’s office said.
The boy’s father, Ari Gershman, a pulmonary doctor from Danville, Calif., was killed Friday after being shot in the chest, Fox News reported.
The sheriff’s office received the call from Jack as deputies were responding to another shooting in which two people were wounded.
The other victims were transported out of the area and taken to a hospital by helicopter. Their wounds were described as non-life-threatening.
Highway curves through the mountains at Tahoe National Forest, California, USA. (iStock)
Autumn Long-McGie, a sheriff’s office spokeswoman, told Fox News on Tuesday both shootings occurred within minutes of each other Friday afternoon and in the same area.
Although the suspect has been captured, his name has not been released.
The suspect was apprehended Saturday on an ATV after a chase.
According to a GoFundMe page established for the family, Gershman took his son to the Tahoe National Forest for an off-roading trip in a new four-wheel-drive Jeep.
“Ari was an avid bicyclist, a vegetarian, an outdoorsman, an internal medicine doctor, a devoted and loving father and fantastic friend that was willing to drop anything for his friends and family,” the page said.
His wife Paige was undergoing chemotherapy treatments for cancer, it said.
Gershman also leaves behind two other children.
