On December 7, 2019, at about 4:45 p.m., 20-year-old John JJ Creech Jr. was fatally shot while walking near Santa Clara Way and Yolo Street in Hayward, California. Emergency responders pronounced Creech dead at the scene; the shooter fled immediately, leaving the neighborhood shaken and the case unsolved for several years.

Creech’s mother, Angel Santos, kept the case in the public eye: she used Facebook and TikTok, and distributed flyers across the East Bay to solicit tips and keep attention on her son. Detectives later named 23-year-old Oakland resident Emmanuel Padilla Maciel as a suspect. Arrest warrants were issued in June 2022 and again by the Alameda County District Attorney in February 2023. Padilla Maciel was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on April 14, 2023, upon reentering the United States from Mexico, and taken into Hayward custody on April 19, 2023; the DA charged him with murder and he was booked and held without bail.

Anyone who knew John JJ Creech Jr., saw activity near Santa Clara Way and Yolo Street on December 7, 2019, or has information about this case is urged to come forward.