A picture of the entrance to the Contra Costa County Coroner’s Office, to be used as generic art.
Contra Costa County authorities on Friday released publicly the identification of a person shot to death in Bay Point and a driver who died in a crash after being pursued briefly by Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office deputies.
Both of them were under 18 years old.
The coroner’s office identified 17-year-old Bryan Tapia Valencia as the victim of the shooting in Bay Point on Halloween night. Gunshots were reported around 9:25 p.m. in the area of Island View Drive, according to sheriff’s office spokesperson Jimmy Lee. Muir Station deputies arrived to find Tapia Valencia with more than one gunshot wound.
Lee said deputies tried to rescue Tapia Valencia and performed CPR on him. Investigators have not made an arrest.
The coroner’s office also identified 15-year-old Giovanni Gomez as the driver of a car that crashed about 1:25 a.m. Monday on the Cummings Skyway, a road that runs between state Highway 4 and I-80 via the Crockett Hills.
Lee said deputies spotted a stolen blue KIA Optima they said Gomez drove and briefly pursued it in the area of eastbound Interstate 80 and the Willow Avenue exit in Hercules. California Highway Patrol spokesperson Officer Adam Lane said the crash happened after deputies stopped pursuing the KIA as it exited onto the Cummings Skyway from eastbound I-80.
The KIA went off the road and overturned, ejecting Gomez. He died at the scene.
Originally published at Rick Hurd