Three arrested in killing of toddler during a ‘rolling gun battle’ on an Oakland freeway

Three men were arrested and charged with murder on Thursday in the 2021 death of a toddler during a gun battle on an Oakland freeway, according to the Alameda County district attorney’s office.

Jasper Wu, 23 months, was riding in his car seat when he was struck in the head by a stray bullet. He died instantly.

Around 2 p.m. on Nov. 6, 2021, four gang members were engaged in a gunfight while driving north on the 880 Freeway, prosecutors said. Trevor Green and Ivory Bivins were riding in a dark-colored Infiniti and exchanging gunfire with Johnny Jackson and Keison Lee, who were in a Nissan Altima.

As the two parties shot at one another, a shot fired from the Infiniti missed the targets in the Altima and traveled across the freeway divider into traffic heading southbound, prosecutors said.

The bullet went through the windshield of a Lexus driving south and hit the sleeping toddler, according to a spokesperson for the Alameda County district attorney.

“It happened because two rival gangs were having a rolling gun battle on Highway 880 going northbound across the freeway at 2 o’clock in the afternoon,” said Dist. Atty. Nancy O’Malley at a news conference announcing the charges Thursday.

Green and Bivins were members of the Chopper City gang, and Jackson and Lee were members of the Eddy Rock gang, according to O’Malley. Both are San Francisco street gangs, O’Malley said.

Prosecutors did not immediately reveal who allegedly shot the bullet that struck the child, but investigators found eight bullet casings on the northbound freeway that came from an automatic weapon, O’Malley said.

Lee was shot in the lower back in the gunfight and taken to San Francisco General Hospital, prosecutors said. When he was interviewed at the hospital, Lee admitted to having been shot on the freeway, and investigators eventually linked him to the shooting of Jasper, according to prosecutors.

Lee was killed in a shooting in Oakland in November. Police made an arrest in that case Tuesday.

Green, Bivins and Jackson were all charged with murder, shooting at an occupied vehicle and possession of a firearm by a felon, prosecutors said.

Bivins and Green were also charged with conspiracy to commit a crime and criminal street gang conspiracy. The two were already in custody in Contra Costa County in a separate case, prosecutors said.

Jackson was arrested Wednesday and was set to be arraigned Friday morning on the charges at Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse in Oakland.