East Bay Family Endures Generations Of Violence
OAKLAND (KPIX 5) -- An East Bay family is grieving after another family member is taken from them.
On Tuesday, 39-year-old Melvin Johnson was shot and killed while driving near MacArthur and 89th Avenue in Oakland in broad daylight.
Melvin Johnson was a father, a grandfather and a man all too familiar with burying his loved ones.
Three weeks ago he lost his 8-year-old son Jahmel Johnson to cancer.
Melvin's wife Shieda Ridley said, "He was always there for his kids whoever needed him he was always there for him."
Ridley said, "I believe when he did go...he went up there with my son, my boy Jahmel."
The shooter got away and the family is ravaged by gun violence once again.
Melvin's son and baby grandson were also killed in an Oakland shooting three years ago.
Ridley believes whoever shot her husband, got the wrong guy.
"He didn't deserve it," she said.
Police haven't released a motive.
"If anything he was the peacemaker...he was the one putting everything back together...solve problems. Even for his son he didn't want retaliation," Ridley said.
Ridley said Wednesday would have been their anniversary -- celebrating 18 years together -- through the thick and the thin.
Now, she says, the only thing she can hope for is justice.
"Justice hasn't been served for my boys yet, but for their dad I believe it's going to come," Ridley said.
