Oakland Teen Murder Suspect Still At Large, $10K Reward Offered
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- A 14-year-old Oakland boy who is suspected of killing his 17-year-old sister on Thursday after they got into a dispute about laundry is still at large, police said Monday.
Police say they believe Mario Toliver, Jr., fatally shot his sister, Justice Toliver, at their home at a high-rise apartment building at 801 Webster St. in Oakland's Chinatown district around 12:15 p.m. on Thursday.
Police haven't release a motive for the shooting, but a cousin, 22-year-old Marianna Gaston of Oakland, said she had been told that Mario shot Justice because he was mad that she had bleached his clothes.
Police are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the boy's arrest.
Police describe Mario as black, 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighing 140 pounds with black hair and brown eyes.
Police say they consider the teen to be armed and dangerous because the gun that was used in the shooting hasn't been recovered.
Olis Simmons, the chief of executive of Youth Uprising, a community organization in East Oakland, remembered Justice Toliver on Monday as "a colorful, exciting larger-than-life personality."
Simmons said Justice had been participating in programs at Youth Uprising for nearly five years and "everybody here knew her and liked her because she was really gregarious and outgoing."
Simmons said Justice had a two-year-old daughter and was focused on getting a good job so she could live on her own and support her child.
She said she and others at Youth Uprising are "devastated" by Justice's death.
Justice was "a beautiful young woman who was trying to figure out how to make her way," Simmons said.
According to court records, Mario Toliver Sr., 41, the father of Justice and Mario Jr., has four convictions for possession of drugs.
Two of Toliver's convictions are for possession of cocaine for sale and two are for possession of a controlled substance.
Toliver's earliest conviction was in 2000 and his most recent was last July, according to court records.
His most recent conviction after Oakland police found him with 4.2 grams of cocaine in a blue Buick in the 1500 block of Myrtle Street in West Oakland last July 9, according to a probable cause statement by Officer James Rowbotham.
The amount of cocaine and the fact that Toliver was also carrying a small digital scale led to his initially being charged with possession of narcotics for sale, however prosecutors later accepted a plea deal for a simple possession charge and Toliver was sentenced to five years' probation.
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