OAKLAND — The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office charged three alleged San Francisco gang members with multiple felonies Thursday after their arrests in connection with last year’s fatal shooting of a 23-month-old boy riding in a car on Interstate 880.
At a press conference at the Rene C. Davidson Courthouse, District Attorney Nancy O’Malley said that Trevor Green, Ivory Bivins and Johnny Jackson were each charged with murder, shooting at an uninhabited or unoccupied vehicle and possession of a firearm by a felon. Bivins and Green were also charged with conspiracy to commit a crime, and criminal street gang conspiracy, O’Malley said.
Around 2:15 p.m. Nov. 6, 2021, the boy, Fremont resident Jasper Wu, was riding in a car seat with family members in a Lexus sedan driven by his mother southbound on I-880 near Filbert Street when he was struck by a bullet. He was taken to UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, where he succumbed to his injury. Investigators who responded to the scene and spoke with witnesses and recovered evidence, and soon learned that a rolling gun-battle had happened between two vehicles in northbound I-880 lanes.
“Suddenly the unthinkable happened. A bullet came through the front windshield at an angle and struck little Jasper in the head. He died instantly. The bullet was lodged in the seat behind little Jasper’s car seat,” O’Malley said. “How could this horrific tragedy have happened? It happened because two rival gangs were having a rolling gun battle on highway 880 going northbound across the freeway at two o’clock in the afternoon.”
O’Malley said Green and Bivins, who she said were members of a San Francisco street gang based in the Western Addition area, were in a dark Infiniti G35 shooting at a Nissan Altima with rival gang members Johnny Jackson and Keison Lee inside.
O’Malley then praised investigators’ efforts and coordination that led to recovery of spent cartridge casings from an automatic assault weapon in the freeway’s northbound lanes, as well as the bullet-riddled Altima, found in San Francisco after its driver, Lee, showed up at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital with a gunshot wound in his lower back.
“This is the worst nightmare. An outcome of gun violence and especially gang gun violence, that innocent people are quite literally caught in the crossfire. But the horrific nightmare for the Wu family and their baby being killed in such a senseless and violent manner that can never be reconciled,” O’Malley said.
California Highway Patrol Assistant Chief Jason Reardon praised his division’s investigators for their doggedness, coordination with other law-enforcement agencies and poise in handling the tragic shooting.
“After receiving that dreaded call, and over the ensuing 13 months, detectives with the CHP special investigations unit and Golden Gate Division worked tirelessly in order to prepare the case that the DA is charging here today. Hundreds of hours of casework … brought this case to a close and I’m proud of everyone involved,” Reardon said. “Your assistance and dedication to this tragic case cannot be overstated. It is an example of what can be accomplished through interagency cooperation.”
Jasper’s father, Jihao Wu, joined by Chinatown Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Carl Chan, who translated on his behalf, thanked community members, law enforcement and the media for their support and assistance on the family’s behalf.
“On behalf of the family, they want you to know [that] they wish that no family, no one, has to go through what they have gone through, and they want to keep everybody safe,” Wu said through Chan. “With the holidays coming up, and despite the fact that they lost Jasper, they want everyone to have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, and everyone please stay safe.”
According to a statement by the district attorney’s office, Green and Bivins were arrested on warrants after an unspecified March 2022 incident in Contra Costa County, and will be transferred to Alameda County custody, while Jackson was arrested Wednesday on a separate warrant, and faces arraignment Friday at Oakland’s Wiley Manuel courthouse. Lee was fatally shot in an unrelated incident last month in East Oakland.
In response to questions, O’Malley said she would continue to advocate against gun violence after her upcoming retirement.
“I think that any case where a child is lost is of the utmost importance. Any case where somebody has been injured is the utmost importance. […] We know that one individual has already been killed since this happened and more gun violence. So for me as I leave, being the district attorney, I don’t leave being a member of the community and I will continue to fight gun violence. I will continue to fight for victims’ rights, and I will continue to make sure that as much as we can that no family has to ever suffer what the Wu family has suffered in the loss of their loved one.”
CHP Chief Reardon declined to share any information about evidentiary recovery that led to the suspects’ arrests, saying that it would come out at an appropriate time in court, but acknowledged Bay Area drivers’ worries about safety on the roads.
“I think what you see on the on the highway is reflective of what you see in society in general,” nodding in part to multiple fatal shootings in Oakland under investigation as homicides.
“But I am confident that we have the ability and dedication or resources to solve all those crimes are possible to be solved.”
When asked by a reporter what took so long in the investigation, Reardon spoke succinctly.
“Proving that case beyond a reasonable doubt in court and providing that case to the district attorney, so that they can file charges and get a conviction, is what we’re after. That takes time. I think it’s a testament to the hard work that our detectives did, that it didn’t matter if it was 13 months or 13 years. We were going to find justice for this family.”
Contact George Kelly at 408-859-5180.
Source: www.mercurynews.com