The FBI announced Thursday that it is contributing $25,000 to the reward for information leading to the suspects who killed a 22-year-old recent college graduate in North Oakland in 2013.
Authorities hope that increasing the reward to a total of $125,000 will spur people to come forward with information on the death of Aya Nakano on June 12, 2013, FBI Special Agent In Charge Bertram Fairries said at a news conference outside the Oakland Police Department this morning.
The shooting happened around 11 p.m. as Nakano, who had recently graduated from the University of Oregon and was working at a logistics firm, was driving back to his Emeryville home after playing basketball at the University of California at Berkeley campus, Oakland police Lt. Roland Holmgren said.
Nakano was driving west on Stanford Avenue near Market Street when another car rear-ended him in what Holmgren described as "a minor fender-bender."
Nakano pulled over at a nearby bus stop in the 5800 block of Market Street, near ASA Liquors, where two male suspects from the car that was involved in the fender-bender confronted him and one shot and killed him, Holmgren said.
Holmgren said Nakano "had his whole life in front of him and was just going home after playing basketball with his friends."
He said, "We hope somebody has some information to help us solve this crime."
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Nakano's mother, Maria Climaco, who was joined by other family members at the news conference, said, "In spite of the many hurdles we face, I'm confident that justice will be served and we are closer to catching the perpetrators."
Climaco said, "As a mother, I want nothing more than giving Aya the justice he deserves and get these criminals off the street so no other parent has to go through what we've gone through."
Police have released a blurry surveillance photo of a silver four-door sedan with tinted rear windows that they believe was driven by the suspects.
Holmgren said information about the reward for finding the suspects in Nakano's death has been posted on billboards throughout Oakland.
Fairries said the billboards "are part of a broader FBI strategy to combat the most violent crime in Oakland" by working more closely with Oakland police.
Selected members of the FBI and Oakland police will move into a new joint workspace by the end of the year so they can share resources in fighting violent crime and targeting gangs in Oakland, Fairries said.
Holmgren said the new space is in the Wiley Manuel Courthouse in downtown Oakland, across the street from Oakland police headquarters.
