Matheus Gaidos

Matheus Gaidos, a 27-year-old male Brazilian national, had moved to the United States five years earlier, seeking a better life and an escape from street violence in his home country. For three years, he had lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, working as a delivery driver. His friends described him as a serene and calm person, and his father said his dream was to one day become a husband and a father himself.

On the evening of June 21, 2023, Gaidos was making his last flower delivery of the day in Oakland, California. At around 6:30 p.m., while outside an apartment building in the 400 block of 26th Street in the Koreatown neighborhood, he was on a video call with a friend in Brazil. The friend overheard Gaidos compliment a passerby, saying, "nice dog." This comment led to a brief but heated confrontation with the man, who was walking two dogs. The altercation escalated, and the man shot Gaidos. Officers arrived to find Gaidos suffering from a gunshot wound, and he was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

In the days that followed, the Oakland Police Department released surveillance images of two persons of interest, a man and a woman, who were seen in the area at the time of the shooting. A reward was offered for information leading to an arrest. A tip from a member of the public who recognized the man in the photos helped investigators identify a suspect.

The man was identified as 22-year-old Eric Loc Elvira. In early July 2023, a collaborative effort between Oakland Police homicide investigators and the U.S. Marshals led to Loc Elvira's arrest in Chicago. The woman who had been seen with him was also identified by police and was no longer considered a person of interest. The Alameda County District Attorney's Office subsequently charged Eric Loc Elvira with the murder of Matheus Gaidos.

Gaidos's parents, Antonio and Isabel, traveled from Brazil to the Bay Area, devastated by the loss of their only son. "It's hard to forgive something that happened like that," his father said through an interpreter. "We want justice, just don't want to see this happening with somebody else." Court documents show that Eric Loc Elvira has since pleaded not guilty to the murder charge. As of May 2024, the case remains pending in the legal system.