OAKLAND — A case of road rage led to the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Madisyn Alandra Suzanne White-Carroll as she drove through East Oakland on Dec. 10, and the suspected gunman has apparently fled the country.
He was identified by authorities as Roberto Martinez, 19, of Hayward. Martinez has been formally charged in the killing.
Oakland police said they have not been able to find any connection between Martinez and White-Carroll prior to a minor collision between their two vehicles about an hour before the shooting, which took place just before 9 p.m. Dec. 10 in the 9800 block of E Street.
In what authorities described as a case of road rage, Martinez was apparently still upset about the collision when he saw White-Carroll driving back through the area and shot her, causing her car to crash. She died at the scene.
Police were able to identify Martinez as the suspected shooter through physical evidence and witness statements, but he apparently fled the country before he could be arrested.
He has been formally charged by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office with murder, shooting at an occupied vehicle, carrying a loaded firearm on one’s person in a city and carrying a concealed firearm on the person. A no-bail arrest warrant has been issued for him.
The fact that a suspect has been identified has brought little solace to White-Carroll’s family.
“I’ve known for a few days now,” said White-Carroll’s father, Erik Carroll. “I pretty much knew who it was since about the day after, but now I have a name. He fled the country after he did it.”
The night of the shooting is still fresh in his mind. The 19-year-old was “was always home by 9 p.m., she was always on point,” he said, so when she didn’t answer her phone that evening, the family started to worry.
“I was texting her, I started looking up inmate locator, calling a bail bondsman and looking for reports online,” he said. “I saw a shooting on 98th, but it said ‘injured’ so I didn’t think anything of it. Then I called a bondsman and heard the car was a 2019 [Chevrolet] Malibu, and that’s when my heart sank.”
Carroll said he called the coroner to ask about the shooting. After he gave his daughter’s name, he learned the truth: “I broke down and said ‘I need to see the body,’ ” he said. “I was in such a panic, I couldn’t go to her mom’s house, so I called her and told her. By the time I got over to the scene, they were cleaning it up and I saw them taking the car away on a flatbed.”
He said that he and others had done what they could to make Christmas work for her siblings.
“We’ve got the other kids, and we’ve been trying to keep them happy,” Carroll said. “I had to leave out the room and broke down in tears watching them enjoying themselves.
“Man, it was tough,” he added. “We were opening gifts with the other kids, but her not being here … every day, you just wake up and it doesn’t feel real. Then you realize it’s real. I’ll be dealing with it every day for the rest of my life.”