OAKLAND - Man with pregnant wife killed in sideshow shooting

Patrick Hoge, Chronicle Staff Writer

Monday, February 7, 2005


An Oakland man whose wife is expected to give birth to their first child in days was fatally shot early Sunday in the vicinity of a sideshow, the name commonly used to refer to illegal car rallies that often feature reckless driving.

The killing occurred about 1 a.m. on Foothill Boulevard at Havenscourt Boulevard on a stretch of road where numerous intersections bear the black arcing marks of squealing tires from drivers spinning in circles.

Witnesses said the victim, mortgage broker Eric Ramon Baeza, 23, was driving a van filled with friends east on busy Foothill Boulevard when another van swerved past and clipped the vehicle Baeza was in, according to Oakland Police Sgt. Phil Green. The driver of the second van then shot Baeza multiple times and fled east on Foothill Boulevard, he said.

"It's pathetic,'' Green added. "It looks like the victim and his friends were merely driving through.''

Police found Baeza lying in the street where he had fallen from the van he was driving. He was taken to Highland Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 2:39 a.m.

Businesses in the immediate area were closed at the time. Cashier Roubel Sekhon, 27, said his father's gas station at the intersection where the shooting happened typically closes at 11 p.m., and he does not even like to be in the area, which he considers dangerous.

The city required his father to install a wrought iron fence along the gas station's perimeter to prevent drivers from using it to spin doughnuts, Sekhon said.

Oakland police have tried for the last several years to crack down sideshows, impromptu, late-night convergences of motorists that frequently draw thousands of people and feature high-speed and stunt driving.

Officers have written thousands of citations and towed more than 1,000 cars, armed in part by a state law passed after a 22-year-old woman was killed in 2002, when her car was hit by a sideshow driver fleeing police.

David Briseno, 23, who grew up with Baeza within 2 miles of the shooting scene, said the victim had overcome difficulties associated with growing up in a tough neighborhood and "really got his life together.''

In addition to recently getting married to a co-worker of Briseno's in the customer service department of SBC Communications Inc., Baeza was about to close escrow on a house, he said.

"It's just the saddest thing,'' Briseno said.

A $10,000 reward was being offered for information leading to an arrest. Anyone with information was asked to call (510) 238-3821.


E-mail Patrick Hoge at phoge@sfchronicle.com

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