By Bay City News
Palo Alto police said they have few details about the night that San Leandro resident Maria Hsiao was shot outside a Palo nightclub, but they think someone out there does, and are offering a $25,000 reward for a tip leading to the guilty party.
Palo Alto Police Agent Dan Ryan said that Hsiao, 21, had just exited The Q, an Alma Street nightclub, at about 12:20 a.m. Sunday, with three girlfriends and her sister. That’s when witnesses said they heard a shot, ducked and then saw her fall, Ryan explained.
But no one, it seems, saw what happened. Ryan said he finds that hard to believe.
“The probability that no one saw it is pretty remote,” he said. “We hope [if someone saw what happened], they will take this opportunity to come forward.”
Investigators are still talking with witnesses and trying to piece together information.
“We had 40 people working from when it happened to noon yesterday, and 15 more are still working right now.”
What police do know, Ryan explained, is that Hsiao, a film student at the Academy of Art in San Francisco, had dinner with her girlfriends and sister at Miyako’s, a restaurant near the shooting scene. There, the young women met a group of men who suggested meeting at The Q. The women did, at about 9 or 10 p.m., Ryan said.
Ryan said investigators know Hsiao and her friends were dancing that night, but he revealed little else. “Someone said it was her first night out clubbing since she turned 21 [a few months ago],” he added.
“We have conflicting reports on where she was standing and which way she was facing,” he said. “And we don’t know if the shot came from the street, from the sidewalk, or from the club.”
All Ryan would say about the type of gun used was that it was “a powerful one.” It only took one shot to kill her.
“As with any investigation, the quicker the better,” Ryan said. “Evidence gets destroyed, people lose their memories. We’re all very concerned. That’s why we’ve set up the reward and the anonymous tip line.”
While only Palo Alto police investigators are working on the case now, at the time of the early morning shooting officers from Mountain View, Menlo Park, Los Altos and Stanford University all came to help clear out the club.
“We’re just starting to scratch the surface,” Ryan concluded.
Anyone with any information on the shooting is asked to call the anonymous tip line at (650) 329-2190. The person whose tip leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible will receive the $25,000 reward. |
