Suspect in San Leandro fatal hit-and-run identified

SAN LEANDRO, CALIF. (KGO) -- San Leandro police identified a man accused of killing a True World Foods employee in a fatal hit-and-run incident Monday as 27-year-old Richmond resident Kadeem Edwards.

The man was killed shortly before noon when he was hit by a pickup truck in the rear of a food supply warehouse in San Leandro in an incident that police are treating as a homicide.

The victim may have been an employee at the True World Foods San Francisco warehouse at 1915 Williams Street because he was struck and killed at about 11:45 a.m. after he got into an altercation with another man in the rear area where trucks load food products for delivery, San Leandro police spokesman Lt. Robert McManus said.

It appears that the suspect may have been trying to steal wood pallets in the back area, as there's a large market for recycling stolen pellets, according to McManus.

McManus said the man who was struck by the pickup truck was pronounced dead at the scene.

The suspect fled in his pickup truck and was detained just after 5 p.m. "We do know we have located the vehicle responsible for today's homicide," McManus said.

"We saw the truck, when we saw police with guns drawn we knew it was serious," witness Clinton Givans said.

Givans saw police searching for the suspect who was caught minutes later. "The officers chased him and found him hiding underneath a parked car," McManus said.

The suspect was described as a man with a dark complexion and a light-colored pickup truck.

Police said the suspect and his pickup were seen on surveillance video earlier in the day at the loading dock of True World Foods where the suspect was allegedly stealing wooden pallets. Then, police said an employee confronted the man and tried to stop him from leaving, but the pickup ran the worker down. "Obviously he tried to stop the crime today and paid a tragic price for doing the right thing," McManus said.

McManus said investigators are checking for surveillance camera footage of the incident and talking to officials at True World Foods San Francisco to confirm that the victim worked there.

Workers reacted to the tragedy Monday and management at True World Foods did not provide a comment.

A pallet recycling faculty is located only feet away from where the suspect was arrested.