On Wednesday, September 14, 2022, a jury found Defendant Latrail White guilty of first-degree murder for the death of Travis Ward.
On July 24, 2021, Mr. Ward was shot and killed on the 1600 block of 23rd Avenue in Oakland by an occupant of a Mercedes sedan. Surveillance of the murder showed a Mercedes sedan, with a missing front emblem, approach Mr. Ward as he was seated on 23rd Avenue. The surveillance did not show the face of the driver of the Mercedes. The suspect, later identified as the defendant, shot a firearm from the driver’s seat of the Mercedes. Mr. Ward had been shot six times, including four times in the back, and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The defendant was identified and arrested on August 10, 2021. Police found an AR 10-style rifle in the vehicle.
Police identified the Defendant through the use of the vehicle, which was registered to Defendant’s mother, as well as through activity on the Defendant’s cell phone.
The jury also found the defendant guilty of shooting from a motor vehicle, two counts of unlawful firearm activity, and carrying a loaded firearm on one’s person in a city. The jury also found the special circumstances that the murder was perpetrated by discharge of a firearm from a vehicle, and that the defendant intentionally discharged a firearm at another person outside the vehicle.
The jury further found true the following allegations: the defendant personally caused great bodily injury on Mr. Ward; the defendant personally and intentionally discharged a firearm and caused the death of Mr. Ward; the defendant personally and intentionally discharged a firearm; and the defendant personally used a firearm.
The defendant is expected to be sentenced on October 13, 2022, and faces 50 years to life in prison.
DDA Abigail Mulvihill prosecuted the case, with aide from Victim-Witness Advocate Stephanie Lynch, and Inspector Jason Turner.