Police said they're still searching for the suspect in the shooting of 17-year-old Samuel Nava III, which occurred at the intersection of Mission Boulevard and Industrial Parkway at about 6:45 p.m. Monday.
Lt. Chris Orrey said police are investigating the possibility that the suspect and the driver of the vehicle in which Nava was a backseat passenger exchanged degrading comments to one another shortly before the shooting.
According to Orrey, Nava was in a vehicle with some friends traveling north on Mission Boulevard. As their car made a U-turn, the suspect began firing from a center median, police said.
Police found the victim vehicle about a mile south of the intersection in the parking lot of the Fairway Park Shopping Center on Mission Boulevard and Fairway Street. The victim was taken to Eden Hospital in Castro Valley, where he was pronounced dead.
The victim's friends told police they had seen the suspect at a nearby park a short time before the shooting, police said.
Orrey said police have no further information on the motive at this time.
The suspect is described as a Hispanic or white man in his 20s or 30s, 5 feet 7 inches to 5 feet 10 inches tall, with a thin to medium build and dark hair. He was wearing long blue jean shorts or jean pants and dark shoes, and was last seen running west on Industrial Parkway on the south side of the street.
The shooting marks the seventh homicide in the city this year.
Anyone with information regarding the shooting is asked to call police through the Crime Stoppers line at (510) 293-7197.
Crime Stoppers of Southern Alameda County is offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information that leads to an arrest in the case.
