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21-year-old shot dead near Hilltop mall
By Karl Fischer
West County Times
May 12, 2008
Someone in a black car shot and killed a 21-year-old Vallejo man two blocks from Richmond's Hilltop mall on Monday afternoon.
The attack began on the 2900 block of Groom Drive, where Tiyani Cole and at least one other man stood in the road at 12:54 p.m., when witnesses say a Nissan Altima with 20-inch chrome rims and a spoiler drove past.
Someone inside opened fire, hitting Cole and peppering nearby cars and houses with rounds, Richmond police Sgt. Bisa French said.
"This is a highly residential area," French said. "This is not something that commonly happens here."
Detectives say Cole ran up Shane Drive, toward the mall, before veering on to Gilma Avenue. His attackers pursued him, Detective Mike Rood said, and caught up as he tried to scale a fence between two houses on the 2900 block of Gilma.
"The calls about the gunfire were all on Groom," French said. "But when officers were doing a check of the area, they found (Cole) dead between those houses."
Detectives say neither suspects nor a motive is immediately apparent.
Police distributed leaflets at the mall last week in search of witnesses to two other unsolved fatal shootings in the Fairmede/Hilltop neighborhood, both last year: the Aug. 30 double-killing of Michael Oncianco and Lewis Antoine III, and the May 15 shooting of Carl Easiley III.
Cole's homicide was the 12th reported in Richmond this year and the first since March 30. At this time last year, police had investigated eight homicides.
Reach Karl Fischer at 510-262-2728 or kfischer@bayareanewsgroup.com .
How To Help
Richmond police ask anyone with information about Monday's killing of Tiyani Cole to call Detective Mike Rood at 510-620-6625 or the anonymous tip line at 510-232-TIPS (8477).
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