Man Charged With Murder of Gene Ransom to Stand Trial

Former Cal basketball star Ransom was killed in 2022 while driving on an Oakland freeway

Gene Ransom / Photo courtesy of Cal Athletics

Juan Angel Garcia, the man charged with the 2022 murder of former Cal basketball star Gene Ransom in a freeway shooting, has been ordered to stand trial, according to a May 21 report by Berkeley Scanner based on court records.

Ransom was a Cal standout in the late 1970s and is a member of Cal’s athletic Hall of Fame.

He is best remembered for playing 63.5 minutes and scoring 36 points in Cal’s five-overtime victory against Oregon in 1977.

According to the Berkeley Scanner report, Ransom was alone while driving on the freeway on February 4, 2022, when someone Ransom did not know pulled up beside Ransom’s car and shot him. Ransom’s car then crashed near the Oak Street exit off of northbound I-880 in Oakland.

Ransom was pronounced dead. He was 65 years old.

California Highway Patrol was able to identify the suspect – 25-year-old Juan Angel Garcia -- with the help of dashcam footage from two passing vehicles.

Garcia was arrested at his home in San Francisco the next day. Garcia has been in custody at Santa Rita Jail ever since.

Berkeley Scanner reported that court testimony in the preliminary hearing asserted that Ransom had cut off Garcia’s vehicle on the freeway, and Garcia hit the brakes.  A detective testified that Garcia then moved onto the left shoulder of the freeway and increased his speed to catch up with Ransom.  When Garcia caught up with Ransom, he allegedly fired his gun at Ransom, striking him in the neck.

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