Emre Bozkurt, 21, was shot and killed in San Leandro, California, on September 24, 2023. Bozkurt, originally from Turkey and living in California about a year, was sitting in his car around 5 a.m. while on a video call with a family member when an assailant opened the vehicle door, shot him in the head, and fled with his phone.

San Leandro detectives reviewed nearby business surveillance and linked this killing to a similar homicide ten days earlier at the same parking lot. Investigators identified a suspect wearing dark clothing, black work boots with metallic shoelace keepers, and a red Nike backpack, following the same escape route north on Hesperian Boulevard and west onto Halcyon Drive. On October 17 an officer detained 23-year-old Joshua Ballard near Hesperian and Halcyon; police found an un-serialized 9mm semiautomatic firearm on him and later recovered additional evidence at his residence.

Ballard was booked on multiple counts including two murders, attempted carjacking, robbery, assault with a firearm and weapons violations in the deaths of Bozkurt and 46-year-old Sebahattin Ciftci (September 14). The community and Bozkurt’s family in Turkey have offered support, including a GoFundMe to help repatriate his body. If anyone has information about Emre, the police request contact.