Family of slain Fremont toddler wants shooters to come forward
The killing of a 23-month-old toddler, who was hit by a stray bullet on the Oakland freeway, has sent shock waves through Fremont and Oakland, which already has been roiled by a surge in homicides this past year.
Now the family has issued a public plea for the shooters to come forward, and the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the people involved in the gunfight on Interstate 880.
Jasper Wu was asleep in the backseat of his family’s Lexus sedan when a bullet flew through the windshield Nov. 6 and struck him. He was rushed to a hospital, where he later was pronounced dead.
“We are completely heartbroken and devastated over the loss of Jasper,” the family said in a statement read by an OCCC spokesperson during a Friday news conference. “We thank everyone for their GoFundMe donation and the outpouring of love and support during this difficult time. We are pleading for the shooters or anyone with information to come forward so that a tragedy like this will never happen again to anyone.”
Jasper would’ve turned 2 years old next month, and on Monday, his father, Jihao Wu, flew into the United States from China to help bury the son he never met. Carl Chan, president of the OCCC, said Wu never met his son in person because of travel restrictions during the pandemic.
“For the entire family, it’s devastating, but for the father especially, who came here from China for the first time to see his only baby,” Chan said. “He cannot have the luxury like any other father to hold his own baby. All he can do is cry and feel helpless.”
“The most vulnerable part of our community is our children, and I think all of us are shocked and disgusted when we see crimes like this happen to young, inno
cent children,” said Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong. “When they happen to anybody, but our children, who we are expected to protect, when they are victims of these crimes, I think it touches everybody. I think Jasper Wu’s incident is affecting all of us, and I think we we all
recognize how fragile these moments are.”
The Oakland Police Department has investigated 119 homicides this year, and the California Highway Patrol has investigated four in the city, including Jasper’s. Oakland surpassed its 2020 homicide total in October, and the city’s homicides have risen 40% from 2019. There were 131 homicides in Oakland in 2012, the highest total since 2006, when there were 148 homicides.
In the past 12 months, there were 76 freeway shootings in Alameda County on I-880 and Interstate 580, the California Highway Patrol said Monday.
The case is still under investigation, and officials haven’t released information on possible suspects.
The chamber also has created a GoFundMe to help the family with funeral expenses. As of Friday afternoon, more than $209,000 had been raised.
The OCCC renewed its calls for more police presence in Oakland and and on freeways across the city.
“Protecting its citizens serves as the government’s fundamental responsibility, and if the death of this toddler, on his way home with his family, doesn’t wake us up to the out of control crime in Oakland, I don’t know what will,” Chan said. “We can all be victims, and I call on the California Highway Patrol to increase its presence on our roadways so tragedies like this can be prevented.”
Also in attendance was District 3 Council member Carroll Fife, who helped spearhead the move to strip $18 million from the Oakland Police Department’s budget earlier this year.
“The police have a network of people that will care for them and protect them; we see it all the time how they protect each other,” Fife said. “We don’t have that in a community. I know individuals personally who’ve worked with the police but have had retribution on the community side, so it’s not as easy as ‘We’re just going to work the police and be safe.’ That doesn’t happen in real life. It’s complicated why people don’t engage with an institution that historically has not been trusted. That doesn’t mean it should continue, but there’s a reason for that.”