BART Releases New Photos of Shooting Suspect

Authorities today stepped up their investigation into a fatal shooting on a train at the West Oakland BART station last Saturday night by identifying the man who was slain and releasing new photos of the suspected gunman. Six days after the rare shooting on a BART train, the Alameda County coroner identified the victim as 19-year-old Carlos Misael Funez-Romero of Antioch.

BART police said witnesses reported that the suspect, who is still at large, used a handgun to shoot Funez-Romero multiple times on a San Francisco International Airport-bound train as it was approaching the West Oakland station at about 7:45 p.m. Saturday, and then fled on foot from the station. Coroner’s officials said today that Funez-Romero died of multiple gunshot wounds.

BART Police Chief Kenton Rainey said a knife was recovered at the shooting scene on the train but police don’t know if it belonged to Funez-Romero. Rainey said investigators don’t know what the motive was for the shooting and don’t know what kind of a relationship the suspect and Funez-Romero had, if any.

Transit agency police are asking for the public’s help in identifying the suspect in the shooting. They describe him as a black man in his late 20s to early 30s who is about 6 feet 2 inches tall with a skinny build, broad shoulders and a scruffy face. He was wearing a long green trench coat over a dark hooded sweatshirt with its hood up, dark pants, a dark backpack and was armed with a black semi-automatic handgun.

BART police released four photographs of the suspect on Wednesday in which he appeared to have a fully shaved head, but BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost said in a statement that the two new photos released today “show he may have a close-cut haircut and possibly a light mustache.” The surveillance camera photos that BART released on Wednesday showed the suspect leaving the West Oakland station shortly after the fatal shooting but Trost declined to disclose where the photos released today were taken.

She said, “We cannot provide details on how and where these pictures were obtained at this time as this is an ongoing and active investigation. Investigators continue to analyze multiple sources of surveillance tapes.”

Trost said anyone with information about the shooting should call BART police at (510) 464-7040 or call (510) 464-7011 to make an anonymous tip.

By Bay City News