Woman Describes Fatal Shooting of Paramedic, Dublin Resident Two Years Ago

A woman testified today that she saw a teenager fatally shoot an off-duty Santa Clara County paramedic in the Oakland hills two years ago. Testifying in the second day of the trial for Christian Burton and David McNeal, two teenagers accused of murder for 34-year-old Quinn Boyer’s death, the woman, who asked that her name not be used, said, “In my 76 years of living, I never saw anyone shoot somebody before.”

The woman said she lives in the Oakland hills and at about noon on April 2, 2013, she was driving down Keller Avenue to get pizza for tree trimmers who were working at her house when she saw a car, later identified as Boyer’s, moving slowly on Keller near the intersection with Hansom Drive.

The woman said another car pulled up and, “All of a sudden a young man jumped out, ran around the back of the car, reached into his pocket with his left hand and pulled out a gun, extended his left hand, focused on the other car and shot.”

The woman said Boyer’s car, identified by police as a Honda Civic, then accelerated, hit the median, went up straight in the air, veered to the right and “went straight over the cliff.”

The eyewitness said the teenager who had shot at Boyer “quickly looked over the cliff” and she was afraid he might come after her because she was nearby, but he got back into the suspects’ car when the driver said, “Come on, get in the car.”

The suspects’ car then sped away, the woman said. Prosecutor Glenn Kim alleged in his opening statement that Burton, who was 16 at the time of the shooting and is now 18, is the person who fatally shot Boyer during a crime spree that he and five other teens engaged in. Kim said at the time of the shooting, Burton and the five other teens were in a car that they had carjacked from a man at gunpoint in East Oakland about an hour earlier.

The teens wanted to carjack Boyer’s car because they wanted a bigger car since the first car they stole was too small to carry all of them comfortably, Kim said. The prosecutor said McNeal, who was 15 at the time of the shooting and is now 17, is also charged with murder because he believes McNeal was an active participant in Boyer’s death. Burton and McNeal, who are being prosecuted as adults, are also charged with the special circumstance of committing a murder during an attempted carjacking.

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In addition, McNeal is charged with assault, carjacking and robbery for other incidents in the crime spree the six teens allegedly carried out. Three other teens have pleaded guilty to murder in juvenile court for their roles in Boyer’s death and are expected to testify in the trial for Burton and McNeal. Another teen, Nazhee Flowers, 18, pleaded guilty in adult court to a carjacking charge and was sentenced to 15 years in state prison.

Burton’s lawyer, Ernie Castillo, told jurors in his opening statement that he believes the woman’s description of the teen who shot Boyer resembles Flowers, not Burton.

By Bay City News

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