Plea Bargain Reached In Shooting Death Of Teen

OAKLAND, CA — Two young men pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter today for the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old boy outside a housing complex in East Oakland in July 2012.

Prosecutors said the shooting death of Hadari Askari, who aspired to be a firefighter, in the 6700 block of Leona Creek Drive just after 8 p.m. on July 10, 2012, went unsolved for nearly three years and led to a
retaliatory shooting that claimed the life of a 15-year-old girl a few blocks away five months later.

Reggie Thomas and Rodney Rederford, both 21, were arrested in March 2015 and were charged with murder for Hadari's death. Prosecutor Butch Ford said today that the pleas to the lesser charge of manslaughter, plus an enhancement clause of using a gun, "is appropriate given all the facts in the case."

Ford said Thomas, who authorities believe was the person who shot Hadari, will receive a term of 21 years in state prison and Rederford will get 16 years when they're sentenced by Alameda County Superior Court Judge C. Don Clay on Dec. 12.

Oakland fire officials said that shortly before Hadari was killed, he had started participating in a summer work program that teaches youths the ins and outs of becoming a firefighter.

A teenager who was once a suspect in the fatal shooting of Hadari testified at the preliminary hearing for Thomas and Rederford last year that those two men are the ones who are responsible for Hadari's death.

The teen, who's now 19, said he's not sure who shot Hadari but he said Thomas and Rederford had been "tussling" with Hadari and were with him when he was shot.

Alameda County prosecutor Glenn Kim said at two trials in 2015 that an attempt at revenge for Hadari's shooting death led to the shooting death of 15-year-old Jubrille Jordan in the 6600 block of Lion Way, near the Lion Creek Crossings apartment complex, five months later at about 3:40 p.m. on Dec. 30, 2012.

Kim said Lilron Jones, Vijay Bhushan, and Marquise Thomas were friends of Hadari and were seeking to kill a teenage boy who's now 19 because they thought he was the one who had killed Hadari.

Kim said one of the 20 bullets that were fired in the December 2012 incident struck and killed Jubrille, who he said was an innocent bystander who just happened to be near the teenage boy and was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The teenage boy was wounded in the December 2012 shooting but survived. Prosecutors asked that his name not be disclosed.

Oakland police Officer Jason Anderson testified at the preliminary hearing for Thomas and Rederford that at the beginning of his investigation into Hadari's death, he considered the teenage boy to be a suspect but he no
longer considered him to be one.

Jones and Bhushan were convicted in March 2015 of first-degree murder and attempted murder for Jubrille's death and Marquise Thomas' was convicted of identical charges in a separate trial that ended in June 2015.

In July 2015, Judge Clay sentenced Jones to 120 years to life in state prison, Bhushan to 34 years to life and Thompson to 32 years to life.

Oakland police said Thomas was one of at least 17 people who were arrested at multiple locations in March 2015 in the culmination of a lengthy investigation aimed at reducing gang violence in East Oakland.

— Bay City News; Image via Shutterstock

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