A 16-year-old boy who was one of three Richmond homicide victims Sunday has been identified as Richmond resident Sean Melson, according to Contra Costa County Sheriff's spokesman Jimmy Lee.

A drive-by shooter fatally struck Melson just before noon at Market Avenue and Fifth Street in North Richmond in unincorporated Contra Costa County. Sheriff's deputies found the boy lying face down on the sidewalk as several people fled the scene and a car sped away, the sheriff's office reported.

Sheriff's investigators say they believe the boy's killer was inside a blue-gray, Grand Am-type sedan. Three to four black males were seen inside the sedan, and at least one was armed with a long gun, possibly an AK-47 assault rifle.

Less than 40 minutes later, at 12:32 p.m., Richmond police began receiving reports of shots fired in the area of Seventh Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. Police arrived to find Thomas James, 19, shot dead at the corner of Eighth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. A second gunshot victim, Dwayne Cunningham, was located a block away, Johnson said. Cunningham is expected to recover from his injuries.



Witnesses told police that a dark-colored, newer-model vehicle drove past the two victims when someone fired shots and continued driving, Johnson said.

Just before 10 p.m., police found a third homicide victim in the 300 block of 39th Street near MacDonald Avenue. A Hispanic man who had been shot several times was pronounced dead inside a central Richmond home, according to Richmond police Lt. Shawn Pickett.

In two apparently non-fatal incidents, a man was shot multiple times in the area of Stege and Cutting Boulevard at 12:04 p.m., and a second man was shot in the leg in the 3900 block of Jenkins Avenue at 9:45 p.m., Pickett said.

Investigators are working to determine if any of the incidents are related, Pickett said.

In spite of efforts to curb the violence in Richmond, 27 people have been murdered this year in the city and many more have been injured.