OAKLAND — A Fresno man in his 40s has been arrested and charged with murdering an 18-year-old woman in what appeared to police to be a preplanned shooting, court records show.
Derrick McIntyre, 46, was charged with murdering Bre’Elle Vercher, attempting to murder the man who brought Vercher to a San Francisco hospital that day, shooting an occupied car, and being a felon in possession of a firearm, records show. He’s being held at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin without bail.
Vercher was shot and killed around 10:30 p.m. on May 22, on the 3700 block of Manila Avenue in Oakland. The shooting was initially falsely reported to San Francisco police, but investigators soon figured out where it really occurred.
According to authorities, McIntyre and the man Vercher was with were involved in a dispute shortly before the shooting, and McIntyre threatened him. Police say Vercher and at least one other woman may also have been involved in the confrontation.
McIntyre allegedly drove up to the vehicle containing Vercher and the man, turned off the lights on his own car so they’d be less likely to see him approaching, and opened fire at the vehicle. Vercher was struck by at least one bullet. The man she was with and another woman then drove Vercher to a hospital in San Francisco, rather than the East Bay, in an attempt to obscure where the crime took place, authorities said.
A GoFundMe page in Vercher’s memory says that medical examiners told her family “a delay in care” contributed to her death. It says she had just turned 18 and was looking forward to her life as a “brand new adult.”
“She graduated, she got her drivers license, worked, and stayed close to her mom. She loved doing hair, baking and spending time with friends,” the GoFundMe page says. “She also had plans of attending the local college in the fall.”
The criminal complaint says McIntyre was convicted of attempted murder in San Bernardino Count in 2008.
McIntyre was identified in part through surveillance footage, and later identified both himself and his vehicle, during a police interview, authorities said. But McIntyre denied that he was the shooter, claiming he went home to Fresno after the initial confrontation.
McIntyre was arrested Aug. 19 in Kings County, according to court records. He has not yet entered a plea and is next due in court on Sept. 3.
