A 26-year-old man who was found dead behind a business in Newark on Monday morning was killed by a single gunshot wound to his head and neck area, a police commander said today.
The body of Julius Hughes was found shortly after 7 a.m. Monday in some bushes on an embankment behind a business in the 8000 block of Gateway Boulevard, Newark police Cmdr. Robert Douglas said.
An autopsy performed today by the Alameda County coroner’s bureau determined Hughes died from the gunshot wound, and investigators are now trying to determine how the death is connected to a pool party held the previous night at a nearby hotel where officers heard shots being fired.
At about 8:40 p.m. Sunday, Newark police responded to an event held at W Silicon Valley, a hotel at 8200 Gateway Blvd. Between 300 and 400 people were at the event, and hotel management asked Newark police to help disperse the crowd.
Newark police asked for assistance from Fremont and Union City police. When officers responded, they heard gunshots coming from the parking lot of either the hotel or an adjacent business that was being used as an overflow lot.
No shooting victims were found, and none showed up at area hospitals.
No arrests have been made in connection with Hughes’ death, and no suspect information was available today, Douglas said.
In 2008, Hughes was arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of a San Francisco man outside a Mission District pot club. He was released in February 2009 after a criminal grand jury failed to return a murder indictment against him.
The victim, Royshawn Holden, 23, was killed on Sept. 14, 2008, outside the Mr. Nice Guy marijuana dispensary on Valencia Street.
A second man arrested for the shooting, Ijeoma Ogbuagu, was convicted of the crime in July 2009, but a San Francisco Superior Court judge ordered a new trial in June after finding that the prosecution did not disclose evidence to the jury that called into question the reliability of testimony from a witness.
