15-year-old boy died Sunday evening in a street shooting

15-year-old boy died Sunday evening in a street shooting possibly prompted by an earlier fist fight, Richmond police say.The victim, Oscar Hernandez, visited friends in the city's Fairmede/Hilltop neighborhood during the afternoon, Detective Sgt. Lori Curran said."We know he went swimming at a community pool," Curran said. "We also know there was a fight earlier in the day. He might have been involved."
Hernandez, a De Anza High School student who lived in the unincorporated Tara Hills neighborhood near San Pablo and Pinole, hung around with at least six other young people that afternoon.The group headed to the 2300 block of Aberdeen Way, where one lived, police said, and were hanging around in front of an apartment building about 6 p.m."We know there was a loud conversation. It might have been an argument, or they might have just been peacocking around about the fight," Curran said.A group of boys walked around the block for a while, talking loudly, before the shooting, police said.Detectives received conflicting information from witnesses, including about who was there. But they suspect a man, possibly wearing a blue hat and sports jersey, walked up while Hernandez stood with others on a sidewalk near an apartment building and shot him several times.He was taken to a hospital where he died, becoming Richmond's 18th homicide victim of 2009, and the eighth West Contra Costa Unified student to die violently this year."Unfortunately, we're getting used to this, how to intervene," said Marin Trujillo, school district spokesman.The district dispatched crisis teams Monday to De Anza and Pinole Middle School, where Hernandez started the year before being promoted to the ninth grade in November.Trujillo said Hernandez's family came to the De Anza office Monday to tell the school what had happened."We've seen that in the past, where the family comes (to the school) sometimes," Trujillo said. They want to have an essence of their child. They want to talk to people who knew their kid."

Posted in: Richmond's 18th homicide victim of 2009