Man slain on I-80 was victim of mistaken identity

RICHMOND (KTVU) - The man who was fatally shot last week while driving on Interstate 80 during a targeted attack was apparently the victim of mistaken identity, sources tell KTVU. 

Demarcus Doss, 24, of Pinole, was shot three times on March 9 while driving a Honda Odyssey minivan near the San Pablo exit around 3:30 p.m. 

Investigators said three suspects who have been detained in connection with the incident were riding in a Dodge when they spotted the minivan they were looking for and chased it onto I-80 in Richmond. 

Sources told KTVU that the suspects were targeting a woman who often borrows that minivan.

When a 17-year-old teen opened fire on that minivan, the bullets struck Doss, who was driving the vehicle. A woman in the passenger seat suffered a gunshot wound to the hand. That woman was not the intended target, sources tell KTVU.

Police have said Elliot Johnson, the man allegedly driving the getaway car, the suspected gunman and a second 17-year-old boy were each charged with murder, attempted murder and shooting at an occupied motor vehicle.

Johnson appeared Tuesday in Contra Costa County Superior Court in Richmond but did not enter a plea. His bail was set at $3.5 million.

Doss died at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, a day after he was shot three times while driving the minivan on eastbound I-80 near the San Pablo Avenue exit in Richmond. 

Authorities said Johnson is a parolee who "has an extensive violent criminal history ranging from gun crimes to carjacking," CHP spokesman Officer John Fransen said at a news conference Friday.

The names of the juveniles were not released because of their age. But prosecutors say they intend to charge them as adults once they get approval by a judge.

The shooting and the investigation on Thursday resulted in a five-hour closure of eastbound I-80 lanes, causing massive traffic gridlock for motorists.