Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include a verified GoFundMe to help support the Wu family and funeral expenses.
A toddler was killed by a stray bullet as he was traveling in a car with his family in Oakland, Calif., on Saturday afternoon.
Gone too soon: A single bullet pierced through a white Lexus Sedan as it was driving southbound through Interstate 880, hitting 23-month-old Jasper Wu in the head, reported NBC Bay Area.
- The California Highway Patrol said it responded to a call about a freeway shooting in the area around 2 p.m.
- Passengers of two cars reportedly fired guns at each other as they drove north on I-880, opposite the direction of the victim’s car, according to early reports cited by Mercury News.
- The gunfire reached the family’s vehicle, hitting the boy who was set to turn 2 years old a few weeks later.
- Wu succumbed to his head injury shortly after he was brought to UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital.
- The two other children and two adults in the same car with Wu were unharmed.
The aftermath: While the incident remains under investigation, officers said the victims did not appear to be targeted based on the evidence collected on I-880’s northbound side.
- In a statement, the Fremont Police Department condemned the act of violence as “not acceptable.”
- Fremont Mayor Lily Mei called the “heartbreaking” incident a “tragedy.”
- United Peace Collaborative’s Leanna Louie expressed sympathy to the grieving family, acknowledging “what they have to deal with for years to come in terms of PTSD.”
- Asians Are Strong’s Hudson Liao lamented how the incident will impact the family members’ lives which are now “shattered and destroyed because we haven’t been able to protect our people in our city and our state at all.”
- Oakland’s Chinatown Chamber of Commerce said it is planning to raise money for the victim’s family.
- The group’s president, Carl Chan, told KTVU that the boy’s mother is trying to remain strong even though “inside I know she’s crying like crazy.”
- The family expressed their wishes for the shooters to surrender themselves to the authorities, ABC 7 reported.
- The boy’s father is traveling from China to bury his son whom he has never met.
The California Highway Patrol is still looking for the gunmen and now urging anyone with useful information to reach out to its investigation tip line at 707-917-4491.
Featured Image via Will Tran
