GUNSHOT VICTIM FOUND IN VEHICLE.

Byline: Greg Botonis Staff Writer

PALMDALE - Homicide detectives are investigating the shooting of a man found critically wounded in a car stopped on an Antelope Valley Freeway off-ramp.

Officials said they believe the 39-year-old man had been shot outside JV's Bar in the 38400 block of 35th Street East. Deputies found blood and shell casings in the parking lot. The man suffered several gunshot wounds to the upper body, deputies said.

``At this point we're still looking into the who and why part of the story,'' said Detective Mike Scott of the Sheriff's Department's Homicide Bureau.

The man's name was not released because his family had not yet been notified, deputies said.

A Sheriff's Department spokesman said the man was driving himself to Antelope Valley Hospital, became lost and called 911 on a cell phone from the Avenue M freeway off-ramp about 1 a.m.

But Lancaster deputies said they believe the shooting victim was driven there by a friend, who called 911 when he got lost.

``When deputies arrived, the man was transported to Antelope Valley Hospital where he was listed in serious condition with death imminent,'' said Deputy Fay Bugarin.

While deputies stood beside the freeway, investigating the incident, a suspected drunk driver hit the back of the parked patrol car.

A sheriff's sergeant had stepped away from the car seconds before it was hit, deputies said.

The motorist was taken to a local hospital for treatment, then arrested and booked into the Lancaster sheriff's station jail. No one else was hurt in the collision.