Sacramento Man Charged With Murder in San Leandro, Alameda Shooting Deaths

By Bay City News Service—    

A Sacramento man who had been on the run for more than three years has been charged with two counts of murder for allegedly being the gunman in separate murders in Alameda and unincorporated San Leandro several years ago, authorities said today.
 
The Alameda County District Attorney's Office recently charged Leondre Paige, 24, for the shooting death of 35-year-old Eric Lamont Franklin in the 700 block of Eagle Avenue in Alameda on Sept. 11, 2010, as well as for the fatal shooting of 26-year-old Daniel Bradford in the 1200 block of Kentwood Lane in the Ashland area of San Leandro on June 14, 2011.
 
There are co-defendants in both cases but Paige is accused of being the shooter in both incidents. Daquan Lane of Oakland, 24, is charged with murder in connection with Franklin's death and Dante Burch of Concord, also 24, is charged with murder for Bradford's death.

[Related article: 2 Men Charged With Murder in Fatal 2010 Shooting in Alameda]
 
Paige had been at large since the 2010 shooting but was arrested at the Arden Fair Mall in Sacramento on March 15 for allegedly being a passenger in a stolen rental car, according to a probable cause statement by Alameda County Sheriff's Sgt. Ricardo Gonzales. Sacramento police later discovered that Paige was wanted on a murder warrant in Alameda County and extradited him to that county, authorities said. On Sept. 11, 2010, Franklin was shot multiple times shortly before midnight and then taken to Highland Hospital in Oakland, where he was pronounced dead.

Alameda police said that during their initial investigation witnesses described the shooter, additional suspects and a vehicle they saw fleeing the area but no one was identified. Paige has been charged with murder for Franklin's death as well as the special circumstance of committing a murder during the course of a robbery.

Alameda police said they began looking at Paige in 2011 when the Sheriff's Office investigated Bradford's death in unincorporated San Leandro and Paige as the suspect in that case. A warrant for his arrest was obtained, although it was believed that he had fled the state.
 
Alameda police said their investigation into Franklin's death indicated that there was a connection between both murders but they did not say what the connection was. Authorities said Paige was arrested at the Arden Fair Mall in Sacramento on March 15 for driving a stolen rental car and Sacramento police later discovered that Paige was wanted on a murder warrant in Alameda County. Lane was arrested without incident at his home in Oakland on March 31, Alameda police said.
 
Alameda police Sgt. Ryan Derespini said in a probable cause statement that investigators determined that Lane was involved "in a street robbery that resulted in the death of the victim" (Franklin). Sheriff's Detective Patrick Smyth said in a probable cause statement that Bradford was killed after Burch and Bradford's brother got into an argument and fight at the Ashland Village apartment complex after Burch's girlfriend asked about buying some marijuana and Bradford's brother "told her he did not have any marijuana to sell."
 
According to Smyth, several witnesses told authorities that Burch said he was going to Oakland to "get his boys" and he returned to the apartment complex with Paige and several other men. Smyth said Burch and Bradford's brother got into a second fight.

When Darrell Bradford arrived and intervened, Paige pulled out a black gun from his waistband and shot multiple rounds at Darrell Bradford at close range. Darrell Bradford was taken by ambulance to the Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, where he was pronounced dead, according to Smyth.
 
An autopsy later disclosed that Bradford had been shot three times in his torso, once in his right arm and once in his left leg, he said. Smyth wrote that although Burch wasn't the person who shot and killed Bradford, "I believe his actions and words would lead a reasonable person to believe that he (Burch) would have or should have known that the ultimate result, death, was a reasonably foreseeable outcome."
 
Paige and Burch appeared in Alameda County Superior Court in Hayward today for the murder of Bradford. Paige and Lane are scheduled to appear in Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland on Wednesday in connection with the murder of Franklin.

Editor's Note: Bay City News Services originally incorrectly reported one of the murder victim's names as Darrell Bradford. The article has been update to reflect the correct name, according to Alameda County Sheriff's officials.