A high-profile East Oakland murder case has quietly fallen apart, leaving the accused man free and the victim’s family with little more than a legal shrug.
Alameda County prosecutors have dropped the murder case tied to a 2023 shooting that killed 23-year-old Juan Garcia Salazar Jr. The defendant, Anthony Ortega, had been charged in Salazar’s death after the young man was found with gunshot wounds in the early hours of March 26, 2023.
The district attorney’s office said it dismissed the case in January after concluding the evidence would not hold up in a criminal trial. Ortega, who was arrested and charged in 2023, posted $500,000 bail in May of that year before the case was ultimately abandoned, as reported by The Mercury News.
Where the Shooting Happened
Police responding to a ShotSpotter alert just before 3 a.m. found Salazar suffering from gunshot wounds on the 3300 block of 13th Avenue near Interstate 580, in a residential pocket of East Oakland. He later died of his injuries. The early-morning killing was first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.
Conflicting Testimony at Preliminary Hearing
The case began to wobble in court long before the DA pulled the plug.
At a preliminary hearing, prosecutors and defense witnesses painted sharply different pictures of what happened, and Judge Mark McCannon flagged credibility problems on both sides. A defense witness testified that Salazar said he had shells for everyone, and told others he was "gonna kill us." A prosecution eyewitness, however, said he did not hear any threats and admitted that his car door had been closed at the time, a detail the judge said undercut the prosecution’s version of events.
Prosecutors argued Ortega was the only person who fired shots and that he struck Salazar multiple times. Police told investigators that Salazar had a loaded gun in his fanny pack, according to The Mercury News.
Legal Fallout and Next Steps
Given the conflicting accounts and shaky evidence, the district attorney’s office determined a jury was unlikely to convict and moved to dismiss. The move does not count as an acquittal, so if new and convincing evidence emerges, prosecutors can still try again.
For now, though, Ortega is no longer facing a murder charge tied to the March 2023 shooting.
Oakland Police are still asking for help from the public. Anyone with information about the March 2023 killing is urged to contact the department’s homicide section at 510-238-3821 or the tip line at 510-238-7950, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.
