Boy, 14, shot dead as violence puts Richmond on edge

Richmond police investigate a shooting Monday morning that left a 14-year-old boy dead near Lovonya DeJean Middle School. Richmond police investigate a shooting Monday morning that left a 14-year-old boy dead near Lovonya DeJean Middle School. Photo: Evan Sernoffsky / The Chronicle Photo: Evan Sernoffsky / The Chronicle Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Boy, 14, shot dead as violence puts Richmond on edge 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

A 14-year-old boy was gunned down on a Richmond bike path Monday, an act that shocked residents in the East Bay neighborhood already reeling from a recent spike in violence around the city.

The killing comes just two days after a 39-year-old man was shot to death while driving along Interstate 80 near Richmond Parkway — the third and fourth slayings in Richmond just two months into the year, police said.

“I don’t come out at night anymore,” said 73-year-old Eddie Moore, who lives just a few blocks from the scene of Monday’s crime. He worked as a mail carrier for the U.S. Postal Service in the south Richmond neighborhood for 30 years before retiring nearly a decade ago.

“This used to be the quietest neighborhood 20 years ago,” he said. “Now it sounds like there’s always gunfire right outside my window.”

Richmond has seen a steady decrease in crime over the past decade and hit an unprecedented dip in 2014, when the city had 11 killings. The following year, though, slayings nearly doubled to 21 — a number that troubles law enforcement and community members.

Monday’s victim, identified by friends and family members at the scene as Xavier McClanahan, had been walking along the Richmond Greenway Trail near Lovonya DeJean Middle School when his killer unleashed a barrage of gunfire around 9:25 a.m., police said.

Xavier was shot multiple times and died at the scene, said Richmond police Capt. Mark Gagan.

A neighbor who lives less than a block from the site of the killing — and asked not to be identified out of concern for his safety — said he heard five shots, looked outside and saw the gunman trying to scale a neighbor’s fence at South 33rd Street and Ohio Avenue near the BART tracks.

That neighbor let her dogs out, so the gunman scrambled into a car and drove off, the man said.

“I hear shots all the time,” he said. “Once my rental agreement is over, I’m out of here. My kids can’t even play outside.”

Mourning the victim

As investigators processed the crime scene throughout the morning, Xavier’s friends and family members began to arrive and grieve.

“I’m scared. I just don’t want to see my friend dead,” said Daniel Millan. When he learned his friend had died, Millan screamed in grief and anger.

“He was an awesome young man,” said the victim’s aunt, who would not reveal her name and was at times doubled over as tears streamed down her face. “He’s young and this is sad.”

No suspects were identified or arrested in the shooting. Police and members of the city’s Ceasefire program were working to reach out to schools, youth centers and the faith community in hopes of curtailing any further violence.

“This kind of violence can start a lot of retaliation,” Gagan said.

The shooting came after Leslie Graham Jr. was shot to death Saturday morning while he was driving in a Jeep sport utility vehicle on Interstate 80 near Richmond Parkway.

Freeway bloodshed

Graham’s killer drove alongside the SUV and opened fire, sending the Jeep careening across the freeway and crashing down a steep embankment. Graham was ejected and pronounced dead at the scene.

That episode was the seventh shooting along the stretch of I-80 near Richmond in the past four months. The California Highway Patrol is investigating the attack with help from neighboring agencies, including Richmond police, and said all the shootings were targeted attacks.

“The chances that the public can be affected by this are infinitesimally small,” said Officer Daniel Hill, a CHP spokesman. “Seventy million people drive through that corridor every year.”

Even so, residents in Richmond are alarmed.

“The freeway shootings have a lot of people on edge,” Moore said. “I go up San Pablo now.”

Other residents, like Mike Latour, 46, worried about the safety of their children.

“I heard the shots, five or six of them. Then I heard the sirens,” said Latour, who lives about two blocks from the scene of Monday morning’s shooting.

Latour said his 15-year-old son used to go to DeJean Middle School.

“Richmond is a crazy place to grow up. We made it through,” said Latour, who was raised in Richmond. “Now I gotta worry about my son.”

Richard Starks, 54, rode by the crime scene on his bicycle, and called the increase in violence “sickening.”

“It’s everywhere,” Starks said. “I’ve got six kids. They’re grown, but now I’ve got grandkids I have to worry about.”

Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky