Family holds vigil for recent high school grad gunned-down in Hayward

HAYWARD, Calif. (KGO) -- Hayward police are searching for three people who sped away from a shooting Tuesday morning where a 17-year-old was shot and killed.

Family and friends gathered at a vigil for Kionta Murphy, a recent Mount Eden High School graduate who wanted to become a Marine.

Kionta Murphy, the victim's father, calls for understanding, not anger on the same day his 17-year-old son Kionta Murphy Jr. was shot and killed.

"All lives matter and until we can understand that and until we can see each other as equals or as people and not as colors, or races, then I don't know where we're at," Murphy said.

News of the teen's death spread quickly. Mount Eden High School students were shocked.

"I didn't want to believe it," said a fellow classmate Mauricio Ahumada. "I did not want to grasp that he had passed away so quickly. You know, we had just graduated from high school."

Murphy and a female friend were walking along Arf Avenue near Morningside Drive around 1 a.m. Tuesday when three young Hispanic men approached them.

"Was that five minutes of being tough, or whatever it was, was it really worth it? I don't think so," Murphy said.

Police say after a brief exchange, Murphy was shot.

"If he saw you, he'd make you smile and he would laugh. He was just full of life," said Gary Duran, the Mount Eden High School athletic director.

His bright smile taken from a world his father knows can be better.

"To me, justice would be not having this happen. A world where these things don't take place, a world where man has compassion for his fellow man and you want to help somebody instead of hurting them," Murphy said.

Police say the three men drove away in a silver or grey SUV.