When Reina Cornejo heard eight gunshots in the early morning of Nov. 17, she didn’t realize that her life was about to be forever shattered.
Less than half a mile away from her home, at the corner of Marina Way Avenue and Bissell Street, her 23-year-old son Josue Cornejo had been shot to death, becoming a statistic — Richmond’s fourth homicide victim of 2025.
“I realized later that he wasn’t home,” she told Richmondside, sitting next to her husband and his stepfather, Luis Romero.
According to Richmond police, Cornejo was shot just before 6 a.m. and died at the scene. The family says that he was shot in the back and that nothing was stolen from him.
On Dec. 2, Richmond police released a photo of a masked person they say is “of interest” in the case and asked the public to help them identify the person.
The total number of homicides in Richmond have dropped dramatically over the past several decades, when there used to be dozens. But Richmond police Captain John Lopez told the Community Police Review Commission during its Wednesday night meeting that there has been a 61% increase in violent crimes in the last month, from 74 reported incidents in October to 119 reports in November.
Overall, however, violent crime is down 17% in Richmond this year, Lopez said, from 1,313 incidents in 2024 to 1,086 incidents in 2025.
All four of the city’s homicides, Lopez said, are unsolved and still under investigation.
“We continue to encourage the public and anyone with information to come forward,” he said.
Reina told Richmondside that Josue Cornejo was her firstborn of two sons and that he was born at the Stanford Hospital in Palo Alto on Jan. 1, 2002. The family moved to Richmond when he was 8, where he attended Cesar Chavez Elementary then Helms Middle School and Leadership Public School.
As a teen, Reina said, Cornejo was diagnosed with a number of mental health conditions, including bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. He was unable to finish high school after he had a mental health crisis and became aggressive with the school’s staff.
“After that happened, he really became a solitary type of person,” she recalled, also saying that his estranged relationship with his birth father also affected him deeply during his teenage years. “He always told his friends he wanted his father in his life,” she said.
Cornejo is having a hard time understanding why her son was murdered. She described him as a caring, quiet and happy young man who was a homebody and often kept to himself, though he yearned for more adult independence as he entered his 20s. He received long-acting injections of medication to help treat his mental health issues.
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“He wasn’t rude or aggressive with anyone. He just loved to walk around the neighborhood.”
— Reina Cornejo, mother of murder victim Josue Cornejo
“This hurts me so much because he was so special,” she said. “He wasn’t rude or aggressive with anyone. He just loved to walk around the neighborhood.”
Those walks, she said, were his way of creating some independence though she said she always made his food and laid out his clothes for the day.
“Whenever he was stressed here at home, he would walk around the neighborhood for 20 minutes or so and then come back. There’s a park down the street (along the Richmond Greenway) where he would sit,” Cornejo said, adding that helping her son was her motivation to get up in the morning. “This hurts me so much. I just want to wake up from this nightmare.”
Cornejo added that the family had always dreamt of selling their current home and moving but now those dreams are shattered.
“How am I supposed to go anywhere else now without my son?” she said, sobbing. “They didn’t even give him a chance to go to the hospital so he could have a second chance.”
She said he only recently had been granted social security benefits, he had a strong desire to work and support himself.
“I would always tell him, ‘What are you going to do, Josue, when I’m not here anymore?’ ” she said. “
Surveillance video shows moments before man shot to death
Romero told Richmondside that surveillance footage from the incident that police showed them detailed the moments leading up to the shooting.
“If you see the video, you see he was walking while looking at his phone. He was often watching videos on his phone or reading, that was his way of entertaining himself,” Romero said.
The family is hoping for justice in the case and are hopeful that either someone will come forward as a witness or the police will be able to find more video surveillance in the area — though the couple were told that a camera near the intersection of Marina Way and Bissell does not work.
“There’s technology and cameras for them to be able to see where this person went. Someone had to have seen,” she said, fighting back tears. “I know I won’t be happy anymore in this place but I just want justice for my son.”
Cornejo said that her son’s funeral services will be held on Monday, with his burial scheduled for Tuesday at St. Joseph Cemetery. The family started a GoFundMe campaign that has raised $9,440 out of a $24,000 goal.
Though she typically doesn’t celebrate the holidays, Cornejo said this year will be even more difficult. Her birthday was Nov. 22; Dec. 28 will be her other son’s 20th birthday; and Josue’s birthday would have been on New Years Day.
“They ruined my life,” she said. “All I want now is for there to be justice for my son. Believe me, if I had any money at all I would offer a reward.”
Anyone with information on the case is encouraged to contact Richmond police homicide Detective Mariah Farr, at (510) 620-6622.
For now, the couple said, they can only rely on their faith and pray that there is a break in the case.
“God knows who it was,” Romero said. “We just can only pray to him so that he can bring justice and guide the people investigating.”
