Teen killed, two injured in Richmond shootings

By Roman Gokhman
Contra Costa Times

Posted: 01/14/2010 08:06:48 PM PST

Updated: 01/15/2010 09:15:42 AM PST

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RICHMOND — A 16-year-old boy was killed and two people were critically injured in a pair of drive-by shootings Thursday that investigators suspect were related.

The second shooting may be a retaliation for the first, said Richmond police Sgt. Bisa French.

"It's possible they are both related," she said. "We have seen violence between these two factions of the city on previous occasions. They are two (groups of people) who don't like each other."

The first occurred at 6:40 p.m. near the intersection of Fourth Street and Grove Avenue in unincorporated North Richmond, Contra Costa Sheriff's spokesman Jimmy Lee said.

The victim, North Richmond resident Antonio Sanders, was with a group of people when a vehicle pulled up alongside and several shots were fired into the group.

Sanders was the only one shot, Lee said. He died on the street.

Twenty minutes later, a vehicle pulled up to a group of men near the intersection of Seventh Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, and several shots were fired.

Two men suffered life-threatening injuries and were taken to a trauma center. Their conditions were unknown late Thursday.

No details about the victims or the shooters in either crime were immediately available.

French said extra sheriff's deputies and Richmond officers have been sent to the areas of the two shootings "to ensure our presence is known."