Protest of Alameda County district attorney set for Monday
OAKLAND -- A rally is planned in Oakland to protest Alameda County's new district attorney Pamela Price over her handling of the death of Jasper Wu, a two-year-old shot and killed on an Oakland freeway in 2021.
The protest is set to take place at noon Monday in front of the Alameda County courthouse on Fallon Street.
Wu's family members worry the three men arrested for the killing won't face jail time. That's why supporters are trying to put pressure on the district attorney.
One of those supporters is Brenda Grisham, who has never met the Wu family but she feels their pain. She, too, lost her son to gun violence in Oakland in a 2010 shooting near their house. One of the bullets struck and killed 17-year-old Christopher LaVell Jones.
"It's almost 13 years for me and it feels like yesterday. Me and my son were very close and for him not to be here -- it's just like a void that's never going to go away," Grisham said.
She turned her pain into advocacy and launched the Christopher LaVell Jones Foundation.
She and members of her organization plan to attend the Monday protest.
"We need to go and support because we all are going through the same thing and we want to make sure that they know they have support from all races," Grisham said.
Bob Yee is co-organizing the "Justice For Jasper" protest. He said that, after the Wu family recently met with Price, they worried they won't get justice.
"They're very concerned that the killers of Jasper Wu are going to get out without any jail time whatsoever," Yee said.
The district attorney has refused multiple requests by KPIX for interviews in recent months. She recently released a video in which she said she will hold people responsible for the toddler's killing. However, in the video she said she hasn't decided on the charges.
"There's nothing that our justice system can do that will relieve or remove the pain of losing their child. Nothing," Price said in the video released by her office via social media.
In March, Price ordered her office to stop using gang and other enhancements to extend prison time unless they get approval from a supervisor.
Investigators say Wu was killed by a stray bullet during a rolling gun battle between gang members.
"We will not be safe, our children will not be safe, even our grandchildren will not be safe. We can't stand for this. Pamela Price, do your job!" Yee demanded.
Protesters point to a plea deal the district attorney made with Delonzo Logwood: Fifteen years prison time in a case where Logwood is accused of killing three people.
"Fifteen years is like a slap in the face. Five years for the life of a person that didn't have a say-so," Grisham said.
A judge rejected the plea deal and sent the case to trial. The judge called it one of the most lenient deals he had ever seen.