Cops: teen killed man to hide relationship
OAKLAND, Calif. (KTVU) - A 17-year-old boy has been charged as an adult for allegedly shooting a man to death to hide their former relationship, authorities said.
Jose Espinoza Lopez is accused of gunning down 38-year-old Ismael Omar Gomez-Saldana, 38, off the San Francisco Bay Trail at the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline near 66th Avenue and Oakport Street, in the shadow of the Oakland Coliseum.
Someone in the park found the victim's body about 9 a.m. Tuesday and contacted Oakland police. The case was transferred to the East Bay Regional Park District police after it was determined that the slaying happened on district property.
An autopsy determined that Gomez-Saldana died of a gunshot to the back of his head.
Police determined that Gomez-Saldana's 2012 Nissan Versa was missing and issued an all-points bulletin for the vehicle.
An automated license-plate reader captured the vehicle near 66th Avenue and International Boulevard in East Oakland.
Police also learned that someone had used the victim's Visa card several times in Oakland a day after he was killed, East Bay Regional Park police wrote in an affidavit.
A California Highway Patrol officer spotted the Nissan on eastbound Interstate 580 near Broadway about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday and placed Lopez, the driver, under arrest.
Lopez told police that he and Gomez-Saldana has previously been in a relationship, authorities said.
The suspect told officers that the victim "had become obsessed with Lopez, to the point where Lopez was trying to decide how to get rid of Gomez-Saldana to keep the relationship secret," the affidavit says.
Lopez had been thinking for several weeks about "how to handle the situation" and asked a friend for a gun, a .44-caliber revolver, police said.
He didn't tell his friend why he wanted a gun, and the friend didn't ask, the affidavit says.
Lopez told police that as the two men were at the shoreline near the Damon Slough bridge, he told the victim to turn around because he had to urinate, according to the affidavit.
When Gomez-Saldana turned around and urinated himself, Lopez says he fired once, police said.
"Lopez said he later knew Gomez-Saldana was dead because he heard it on the news," the affidavit says.
Lopez is being held at the Alameda County Juvenile Justice Center in San Leandro.
The victim, Ismael Omar Gomez-Saldana, 38, was found by a park user Tuesday morning along the San Francisco Bay Trail at Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline in Oakland. He had been fatally shot. During the investigation, police discovered the victim’s car was missing and issued an alert to neighboring law enforcement agencies. California Highway Patrol officers spotted the victim’s car on Interstate 580 in Oakland Wednesday afternoon and detained the driver, who was later arrested.