Donor offers $50,000 reward for information on murder of San Francisco attorney

EL CERRITO, Calif. (KGO) -- Prominent San Francisco attorney Jim Gilliand was murdered on his front porch in El Cerrito this year and authorities are no closer to finding his killer.

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"It's been traumatizing. Who would do this kind of a thing to a man who was so giving and has never, to my knowledge, never upset anybody," said John Vincent.

Vincent knew Gilliand for more than 30 years and stopped by his El Cerrito home Monday.

He says the past two weeks have been painful. Police have made no arrests in his friend's murder back on Oct. 27 and don't know a motive.

Gilliand was shot to death on his front porch. Now, an anonymous donor put forward a $50,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and a conviction.

"It's our belief that someone knows what happened," said Robert De La Campa of the El Cerrito police. "Someone knows who did it, and we hope this is enough to tell us in a court of law."

De La Campa hopes this money brings closure in the case, the city's only homicide of 2016.

"We want this person to be apprehended," De La Campa continued. "We want to get that weapon. We want to get it off the streets. It's already been used to kill one person."

The 62-year-old attorney worked at the Kilpatrick Townsend and Stockton law firm in San Francisco. He handled intellectual property cases for some Silicon Valley tech companies like Apple and Oracle.

In a statement, a managing partner said, "The larger community, not just the legal community is a much lesser place without Jim. Whoever is responsible for this heinous crime needs to be brought to justice."

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El Cerrito police are encouraging anyone who may have information about the case to call (510) 215-4400, ext. 40.