It was a somber day at Santa Clara County Ambulance Wednesday as everyone's thoughts were with their colleague. "Today, we are dealing with the tragedy and learning about it, and helping our employees cope," said Monica Gomez with Santa Clara County Ambulance. Grief counselors were at the ready following Tuesday's shocking attack.
Their highly-regarded co-worker of two years was off-duty when he was shot in the head on Keller Avenue in the Oakland Hills. Witnesses say a man in a brown car opened fire on Boyer's car. The 34-year-old crashed down into a ravine after speeding off and slamming into a median. Police are trying to figure out what triggered the brazen shooting.
"Although we're trained to get through this situation and we're trained to deal with these types of emotional and traumatic injuries, it's still tough when it's one of our own, and it's a brother to them," said Brian Hubbell with Santa Clara County Ambulance.
Many of Boyer's co-workers cannot help but be reminded of an attack on another off-duty paramedic. It was amost two years ago to the day that Bryan Stow was severely beaten outside Dodger Stadium. "Many of our employees were very close to him and are still very close to him, and so it's just another tragedy to hit many of our coworkers," Gomez told ABC7 News.
"Nobody would ever hope for this to happen. These situations are very difficult and, granted, we see this every day as paramedics, as EMTs, but it's not something we would expect to see happen to us," Hubbell said.
Oakland police are still in need of any additional witnesses who could offer tips as they search for a suspect and a motive. Oakland Police Sgt. Arturo Bautista says witnesses and clues on that stretch of Keller Avenue have been few. "It was in the middle of the day and it's in an area where there is not a lot of foot traffic at all," he said.
Kira Klapper, Sergio Quintana and Nick Smith contributed to this report.
(Photo of Quinn Boyer courtesy of Angie Perez)
