California Highway Patrol (CHP) is seeking information from anyone who may have witnessed a freeway homicide earlier this month.
Just before 10 p.m. on Jan. 13, police received a call of a car having crashed into the center divide along Interstate 280 north of De Anza Boulevard. The person who called the police believed the car may have been racing or involved in a road rage incident, according to a press release from the CHP.
Upon arrival, officers observed a man in the car with extensive injuries suffered in the crash, said Sgt. Andrew Barclay, public information officer for the Golden Gate region of CHP.
Paramedics arrived on scene and rushed the victim to Stanford Hospital. Doctors later contacted police, informing them that the man had been shot in the head, pronouncing him dead.
The victim, Richard Agpawa, 41, was from Oakley, Calif., according to the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner’s Office. The medical examiner listed the cause of death as homicide.
Police believe an assailant shot Agpawa shortly before the crash, causing him to hit the center divide, Barclay said.
The witness said two vehicles were speeding, but police were unable to determine at what speed and angle Agpawa crashed into the divide. Police were also unable to corroborate whether the caller’s claim that road rage or a race spurred the incident, Barclay said.
Details about how paramedics and police could have missed that Agpawa had been shot in the head while on scene were unavailable from the medical examiner’s office and CHP.
The condition of the vehicle “wasn’t pertinent to the incident,” Barclay said, so it was not information he solicited.
CHP is hoping that someone else may have witnessed the crime on Interstate 280. Detectives do not have a motive or suspect. Police are asking anyone with potentially helpful information to call the CHP investigative tip line at (707) 917-4491.
Contact David Alexander at d.todd.alexander@gmail.com
