Bay Bridge Shooting Victim Was Music Promotor, New Father

BAY AREA —A music promoter who was fatally shot while driving on the lower deck of the Bay Bridge early Monday morning has been identified by the San Francisco medical examiner's office as 31-year-old Darryl Stinnette, a resident of Mesquite, Texas.

"He was a great guy, a really genuinely good guy and very passionate about music and helping upcoming artists succeed," Stinnette's business partner Michael Bartolomeo said today. "It's a big loss to the rap
community."

Stinnette, who was also known as Lil Pooh, worked in artist management with Bartolomeo at a rap music promotion company called Dirty Glove Bastard.

"He was an aspiring rapper before he decided to switch over and do more behind the scenes stuff in the music business," Bartolomeo said.

Stinnette has family in Texas, including a baby born in April, and loved ones are planning a candlelight vigil in the Dallas area, according to Bartolomeo. An online fundraiser has been set up for his family on GoFundMe.

California Highway Patrol officers responded shortly before 2:30 a.m. Monday to calls of shots fired and a crash on eastbound Interstate Highway 80 on the bridge just west of Treasure Island.

Stinnette and two other men were in a Mitsubishi SUV when a suspect driving a silver vehicle opened fire, according to the CHP.

Stinnette and his two passengers were all hit by the gunfire and the Mitsubishi then swerved to the left and crashed into a Honda. Stinnette died at the scene from his injuries while the passengers were taken to a
hospital, CHP officials said.

A Porsche was also struck by the gunfire but CHP officials did not say if anyone inside it was hurt.

The shooting suspect fled in the silver vehicle and remains at large. No other details about the suspect were immediately released by the CHP.

The Bay Bridge shooting may have been preceded by another incident in the city's South of Market neighborhood.

A shooting was reported in the first block of Minna Street around 1 a.m. A suspect drove away from the scene, but later crashed while trying to get on the Bay Bridge, according to police.

He was arrested on suspicion of discharging a firearm within city limits. Police could not immediately confirm that the two shootings were linked.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the CHP's investigation tip line at (707) 917-4491.