A community is outraged and calling for change after a shooting on I-880 in Oakland Saturday left a 23-month-old Fremont boy dead.
Jasper Wu of Fremont was just a few weeks away from celebrating his 2nd birthday.
Instead, his family is planning his funeral after the boy was shot while in a car on southbound I-880 in Oakland Saturday afternoon.
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The boy's mother was driving the family back home from San Francisco. Jasper was in a car seat when police say a stray bullet struck him in the head.
NBC Bay Area learned Sunday night that Wu’s father is on his way to the Bay Area from China.
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Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce president Carl Chan, who spoke with the boy’s mother said she told him the father had never met his son because of COVID-19 restrictions.
"It's horrible to imagine this family having a nice day and then the bullet hit the baby. It's unimaginable,” Chan said.
Chan told NBC Bay Area that he is helping provide assistance to the family and is also calling for change. He said that he wants more CHP patrols on Bay area highways.
“I think this tragedy is a turning point it can’t just be a child victim we could all become victims anyone of us and we need to make a change now,” he said.
Other community activists are echoing the need to do more.
“I think this is a terrible tragedy and we need to holistically take an approach to this violence and treat it like the public health crisis it is,” said Dr. Noha Aboelata of the Roots Community Health Center.
Detectives said they don’t believe the family was targeted.
Investigators are asking anyone with information to come forward.
