Police: Suspect in 3-year-old BART murder may be in Antioch

OAKLAND >> The man who fired a gun into a crowded BART train three years ago, killing a 19-year-old Antioch man, is likely still in the Bay Area and has strong ties to Antioch, BART police said Wednesday.

Carlos Funez-Romero died aboard the train at the West Oakland Station after the shooting on Jan. 9, 2016. On the day the investigation completed its third full year, Police Chief Carlos Rojas appealed to the public for more information that may help solve the 19-yearold’s murder.

He also revealed some new clues that detectives have gathered.

“We believe that with some help and the right information, we can get this guy,” Rojas said by phone to this newspaper Friday.

The shooter, who ran from the West Oakland station after the shooting, is a black male between 6 feet and 6 feet, 4 inches tall. At the time of the murder, he had a bald/shaved/ close-cut hair style. He had a slim build and was wearing a green hooded jacket with beige, constructionstyle boots. Police released an image of him Wednesday.

Rojas said detectives believe he may be in Antioch and confirmed that he recently boarded a Tri-Delta bus in the 3400 block of Delta Fair Boulevard in that city. They confirmed that information with video and audio from the bus company.

Detectives also now believe the man goes by the first name of Matty, and that his father’s first name is likely Vic or Victor.

“We also believe that his father either owned or still owns a Ford Crown Victoria,” Rojas said.

If the man isn’t in Antioch or another area of eastern Contra Costa County, Rojas said, then he probably has relatives, friends or associates who are. The man also is known to have been in East Oakland, he said.

“It’s human nature to tend to stay close to the places you know the best and where you are most familiar,” Rojas said. “We are creatures of habit that way.”

Rojas put one detective on the murder investigation full-time last year, and BART police continue to work with other law enforcement departments. The murder predates the chief, who took over the agency’s police department on May 25, 2017. Yet it remains one of the more notable incidents in recent BART history, not only because of the crime itself but because of what its aftermath revealed.

On that night, the BART train slowed to stop in the West Oakland station around 7:40 p.m., and the gunman fired at Funez-Romero, who was seated near the train car doors. Funez-Romero died at the scene.

It was discovered later that the camera on the train car where the shooting happened was fake and did not record the suspect or the incident. BART later acknowledged that at the time, about 70 percent of the cameras on its trains were fake.

Every train is now equipped with working cameras, a project that was completed in June 2017.