ABC7 news reporter, Kate Larsen, spoke to Kevin Prasad and Donovan Rivera separately at Maguire Correctional Facility in Redwood city, where they're both being held on multiple felony charges including murder, assault with a firearm and firing into an occupied vehicle, and an enhancement of lying in wait.
[Ads /]
They spoke behind a glass window through a phone. Prasad did not say much, but Rivera did talk and he's not happy with Prasad. After he was jailed last week, Rivera said he sat in his cell and thought, "this is what my life is going to come down to? Looks like I'm going to have to choose my friends better."
San Mateo County District Attorney, Steve Wagstaffe, spoke Tuesday about the alleged motive. "He and the victim, Mr. Prasad, and the victim had never had a conflict, never had any fight, battles or anything like that. He just happened to be the boyfriend of the woman he wanted in his life.
He figured the way to get her in his life, was to be there for her, as she would be the grieving person not knowing, she would not know that he was the one who had ended her boyfriend's life."
RELATED: 'He was the nicest person' Family mourns SFO worker killed in shooting 'plot'
Thursday in jail, Prasad was very calm and soft-spoken. He did not want to address the allegations, that he shot Mangaccat last Wednesday night after he pulled into the driveway of his family's home in Daly City, while Seinn was in the car. Seinne described hearing the gunshots, "It was like bam bam I hear them. I said honey, honey you hit garage door... stop stop. And after that, I heard honey, honey somebody shoot me. I'm just scared."
[Ads /]
Prasad also did not want to talk about Rivera, who investigators say drove Prasad to and from the shooting scene. Rivera on the other hand, spoke openly, saying, "I'm an innocent man. I'm not violent," and that he's "shocked as hell." Rivera says he and Prasad worked together in Sacramento seven years ago and have been friends ever since and that he's "never known him to be a violent man". He said he was driving Prasad around last Wednesday for three or for hours, saying "he told me to just drive."
Rivera says he did not know if Prasad had a gun or that he had a romantic interest in Seinn. "I'm very upset at Kevin. He took me from my family. I was doing so well, I have no criminal history. I don't own weapons."
When asked if Prasad shot Mangaccat, Rivera said, "I think he did. I was scared. I heard shots." Rivera says after he heard shots, Prasad ran away "up the hill" and he drove away panicked and didn't see Prasad again until the following day in jail.
However, the District Attorney's office says Rivera drove Prasad away from the crime scene.
Prasad said he's looking forward to his day in court; both he and Rivera are scheduled to appear in court on May 8th. Both men are eligible for the death penalty, which prosecutors will determine whether or not to pursue in the coming weeks.