Third suspect arrested in Montclair laptop death case
A memorial for Shuo Zeng at the site of his murder.
OAKLAND, Calif. - Oakland police said on Friday that they've arrested a third suspect in the death of a man who was killed after he tried to get back his laptop computer, which was stolen while he worked in a coffee shop in Oakland's Montclair district last month.
KTVU's Henry Lee reports Kejuan Wiggins, 18, was arrested and booked in San Francisco on suspicion of murder. Alameda County's district attorney will review the case.
Byron OJ Reed Jr. 22, of San Francisco, and 21-year-old Javon Lee were previously arrested and charged for their roles in the death of 34-year-old Shuo Zeng in the 2000 block of Mountain Boulevard shortly after 11:30 a.m. on Dec. 31.
Oakland police previously said only two suspects were involved in the incident but on Friday they issued a tweet saying, "OPD makes the 3rd arrest in connection with the homicide of Shuo Zeng. This is still an active investigation. There will be no additional information released at this time."
Reed and Lee were charged and arraigned on Jan. 3 and returned to court on Friday to possibly enter pleas. But their plea entries were postponed to a later date.
Reed is charged with murder and the special circumstance of committing a murder, Lee is charged with involuntary manslaughter and both men are charged with second-degree robbery.
Court records indicate that the third suspect hasn't yet been charged.
Surveillance video shows two individuals snatching a laptop from Zeng and then fleeing into a waiting vehicle, Oakland police Officer Gerald Moriarty wrote in a probable cause statement.
Zeng chased the suspects to their getaway vehicle, which authorities believe Reed was driving, and a struggle ensued but Zeng was struck by the vehicle and ultimately succumbed to his injuries, according to Moriarty.
Witness statements and a review of surveillance camera footage indicated that Lee was one of the people involved in taking Zeng's laptop and his actions facilitated the robbery and murder, Moriarty wrote.
Witness statements and surveillance footage also showed that Reed was the driver of the getaway vehicle, Moriarty said.
Reed and Lee were arrested at Reed's sister's home in the 9400 block of MacArthur Boulevard in Oakland at 4 p.m. on Dec. 31.
According to Zeng's Linkedin profile, he was a native of China, graduated with a degree in physics from Sichuan University and got a doctorate at Kansas State University.
Zeng's profile indicated that he moved to the Bay Area in 2015 to work for Aspera, an IBM company in Emeryville, as a research scientist and engineer.
KTVU's Henry Lee contributed to this story.