$10,000 reward offered for Oakland shooting that killed toddler

OAKLAND — A $10,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of the shooter responsible for killing a toddler on a San Francisco Bay Area highway.

The 1-year-old boy, Jasper Wu, was sleeping in his car seat when he was struck by a stray bullet on Interstate 880 in Oakland on Nov. 6. He would have turned two next month.

The California Highway Patrol said the evidence suggests Wu's mother got caught driving in the crossfire of a gunfight on the freeway.

“Protecting its citizens serves as the government’s fundamental responsibility, and if the death of this toddler, on his way home with his family, doesn’t wake us up to the out-of-control crime in Oakland, I don’t know what will,” Carl Chan, president of Oakland Chinese Chamber of Commerce chamber, said Friday at a news conference announcing the reward.

He called for greater law enforcement presence in Oakland and on freeways amid an increase in gun violence in the city this year.

Wu's family said in a statement read at a news conference pleading for anyone with information to come forward “so a tragedy like this will never happen again to anyone.”

"We are completely heartbroken and devastated over the loss of Jasper," the statement said.

The reward comes from the the Crimes Against Asians Reward Fund, which was created through a partnership among the chamber, the Burma Love and Superstar restaurants and the San Francisco Police Officers Association.