OAKLAND — Four men were sentenced to prison for their roles in an RV robbery where the victim fought back before he was gunned down, court records show.
John Harrison and Guillermo Lacayo were both sentenced to 15 years in state prison, while Charles Fuller and Leopoldo Ruiz were both sentenced to 11 years, court records show. The four men all pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter in the May 2021 killing of Paul Schrager, an Oakland resident who lived in the RV and had been featured in news reports about the Bay Area’s homeless crisis.
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Schrager was shot and killed at about 4:30 a.m. May 7, 2021 after four gunman burst into his RV, where his girlfriend was waiting for him to return from an undisclosed errand, authorities said in court records. The men allegedly demanded her belongings and as the robbery was taking place, Schrager returned to the RV, leading to a struggle over firearms and a shootout, according to court records.
Harrison was wounded during the altercation, and Schrager was shot multiple times. Police identified Harrison as a suspect after he showed up to a hospital in a white Cadillac Escalade later that morning, authorities said.
Schrager’s body was found on the street, a few feet from his RV. The four men were identified one-by-one and charged with murder, a count that was dropped as part of the plea deal, court records show.
In a sentencing memo, Lacayo’s lawyer said that he is a “good candidate” for rehabilitation and has been working to improve himself in the four years he’s spent at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin since his arrest. Deputy Public Defender Rico Tagliaferri added that while Lacayo planned the robbery, he was adverse to violence.
“The moment (Schrager) arrived back home Mr. Lacayo separated himself from the conflict and left to go back to their vehicle. He was at least thirty feet away, behind the RV when two co-defendants confronted (Schrager), one got into physical struggle with him, and the other shot him,” Tagliaferri wrote. “Although at least three of the four men were armed, Mr. Lacayo never intended for any firearm to be used for more than an instrument to instill fear during the robbery.”
Attorneys for the other three men didn’t respond to a request for comment.