“Heart-wrenching”: Slain Fremont toddler was latest victim in dozens of freeway shootings this year in Alameda County

The killing marked the latest in what California Highway Patrol leaders say has become a continuing problem on freeways in Oakland -- routine drives turned bloody by gunfire.

Clutching a bouquet of white chrysanthemums, Fremont’s top two elected officials made a house call this week unlike any other: Sharing a community’s grief over a toddler killed in his sleep by a stray bullet on an East Bay freeway.

“We feel the pain,” said Fremont City Councilman Yang Shao after the visit. “We feel it’s a tremendous heartbreak.”

The moment marked the latest in what California Highway Patrol leaders say has become a continuing problem on freeways in Oakland — routine drives turned bloody by gunfire. The agency has investigated 76 shootings over the last year on freeways in Alameda County, according to Capt. Mike Lehman of the California Highway Patrol. It is unclear how many of those shootings resulted in injuries, and on which highways they’ve happened.

But the latest came Saturday, when 23-month-old Jasper Wu was fatally hit by a stray bullet that appeared to come from a rolling gun battle on the other side of the interstate.

The shooting— which comes amid a spike in Oakland’s homicide rate — has shaken the Chinese American communities of Fremont and Oakland, led to calls by community leaders for an end to the bloodshed, and prompted pleas for tips that could lead investigators to those responsible.

Jasper’s death “is as heart-wrenching and as sickening as it gets,” said Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf in a statement, adding that anyone with information should share it with Highway Patrol investigators immediately.

The city surpassed its 2020 homicide total in October — an increase that has continued unabated even as, violence in many other American cities has levelled off as the pandemic has eased. So far this year, 119 people have died by homicide in the city.

“This is unfair for a child to pay the ultimate price for the adult’s crime,” said Henry Liang, president of the HuaRen Rotary Club of Silicon Valley, which has been helping to raise money for Jasper’s family. “This should have never, ever happened to anybody. People are outraged and angry, and people are scared.”

The shooting has dominated talk on the Chinese social media app WeChat, local Chinese-American leaders said. On Facebook, former Top Chef contestant and Oakland-based chef Tu David Phu, who is Vietnamese American, posted a simple message: “Oakland we can do better.”

A GoFundMe account established for the family has raised about $130,000 as of Tuesday afternoon. Multiple Chinese-American organizations, including the Huaren Rotary Club in Silicon Valley, have also put out calls for members to donate to the family.

Late Monday, Jasper’s father, Jihao Wu, arrived in the U.S., seeking to lay eyes on his child for the first time.

He was living in China when Jasper was born in 2019 and, due to lockdowns during the pandemic and travel restrictions, wasn’t able to get back into the U.S. until this week, said Carl Chan, president of Oakland’s Chinatown Chamber of Commerce. Wu had been sending money to his wife and his family during the pandemic.

“He really wanted to see the baby when he was first born, but they locked down China,” Chan said. “It was the wrong timing.”

After visiting Jasper’s family, Fremont City Councilman Yang Shao said the toddler’s mother, Cherry An, was utterly heartbroken.

“She was overwhelmed by the tragedy,” said Shao, the city’s vice mayor. “Basically, she did not know how to react, how to respond to the sudden tragedy.”

Those who have died on Alameda County highways in freeway shootings this year include two teenagers who were killed in May when gunmen opened fire on a party bus traveling an Oakland freeway and city streets. Two weeks ago, Ramon Price Jr., 27, was fatally shot on I-580 in East Oakland. Investigators have released few details about the killing, which remains under investigation.

On Tuesday, his father, Ramon Price Sr., called the continued bloodshed “senseless.”

As the pastor of Mount Calvary Mission Baptist Church and an employee at a funeral home, the elder Price has frequently confronted death. Another of his sons, Lamont Price, died nearly a decade ago at the age of 17 in an Oakland shooting.

But he said hearing about Jasper’s death was nearly as difficult as learning of his own son’s death in a freeway shooting last month.

The younger Price “had a chance to live life,” Price said. But Jasper’s family “will never know what that child was capable of.”

“People have no more regard for life,” Price said. “It’s like everybody has a kill mode. They don’t care about the innocent people hurt in the process.”