Police searching for white van in San Leandro road rage slaying

Police in San Leandro are searching for a modified white van that may be connected to a road rage shooting that left a father of two dead Sunday. Police in San Leandro are searching for a modified white van that may be connected to a road rage shooting that left a father of two dead Sunday. Photo: San Leandro Police Department / San Leandro Police Department Photo: San Leandro Police Department / San Leandro Police Department Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Police searching for white van in San Leandro road rage slaying 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Police in San Leandro on Thursday said they were searching for the driver of a white van that could have been involved in an apparent road rage shooting that left a father of two dead over the weekend.

As 45-year-old Wardell Taliaferro drove west on Marina Boulevard through Verna Court just before 10 p.m. Sunday with his girlfriend and two children inside, shots were fired, police said.

The white American-made mini-van, sporting a conversion-style roof that makes it at least half a foot taller than most vans, was spotted on surveillance footage in the area, according to the San Leandro Police Department.

Lt. Robert McManus, a spokesman for the department, said investigators don’t know if the occupants of the van had anything to do with the slaying, or if they may have been witnesses to another shooter.

“During cases like this, we have to consider every possibility,” McManus said.

Officers soon after fielded another call of a woman screaming in the parking lot of Kaiser Permanente San Leandro Medical Center just blocks away, police said.

There, officers said they found Taliaferro, of San Leandro, slumped in the driver’s seat and bleeding. He was pronounced dead at the scene with his relatives inside the car, including his 4-month-old son.

Anyone with information on the shooting can contact the San Leandro Police Department anonymously at (510) 577-3278.

Michael Bodley is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mbodley@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @michael_bodley