‘He shot my dad’: 10-year-old Oakland boy comes face to face with father’s alleged killer in courtroom
Suspect claimed he was threatened
OAKLAND, Calif. — A 10-year-old boy took the stand in a recent harrowing courtroom hearing to identify the man he allegedly witnessed shoot his father at point-blank range more than two years ago.
It all revolves around the shooting death of Cesar Parrilla, 44, on June 21, 2021, while he was helping a friend jumpstart a car on the 400 block of Capistrano Avenue in Oakland. According to witness testimony, the suspect, 35-year-old Luis Estrada, confessed to police but claimed that Parrilla made a threatening gesture and pulled guns on him before during a long-running feud.
In late October, the first witness at Estrada’s preliminary hearing was Parrilla’s 10-year-old son, who testified that he was playing on his phone when a green vehicle pulled up and the driver asked, “Are you Cesa?” When Parrilla said yes, the driver pulled out a firearm, and the boy testified about what happened next.
“He shot my dad,” Parrilla’s son testified, adding that he had some experience with guns from playing violent video games such as Grand Theft Auto. Estrada was later identified as the shooter by him.
According to Oakland police Detective Robert Hardy, Estrada claimed during a police interview that he fired a small rifle into the air to scare Parrilla, who made a threatening gesture and told Estrada that the next time they met, he’d kill him. According to a transcript of the hearing, Hardy also testified that Estrada admitted to giving away his green station wagon and throwing the firearm into the water in Alameda.
Estrada and Parrilla had a “longstanding feud” because Parrilla “stole one or two dogs from him,” according to Hardy, who recounted Estrada’s police statement. Estrada also allegedly claimed that Parrilla reached into the trunk, which Estrada’s lawyer argued could have been interpreted as Parrilla reaching for a gun. During the examination, Hardy admitted that police had investigated Parrilla for allegedly pulling a gun on Estrada years before.
Judge Jason Chin of the Alameda Superior Court upheld the murder charge but did not comment on the evidence. The legal standard for moving a case beyond the preliminary hearing stage is probable cause, which is a much lower standard than the standard used by juries to convict people of crimes. Estrada’s trial date has yet to be determined.
