Alameda County Police Conspired to Keep Quiet the Murder of Martress Rogers: Black Man Shot by Off Duty Cops

Authorities say the officers knew their complicity in the slaying of Martress Rogers would destroy their careers and ruin their lives. So the men allegedly gathered in mid-November and made a secret pact: "They conspired not to tell," Alameda County sheriff's Cmdr. Greg Ahern said. For four months, it seemed as if the plan might work. At least one of the men, a 27-year-old Ashland resident, managed to get a job as a police officer at a Richmond high school. But anonymous tips and a trail of blood caught up with them. On Friday afternoon, after a series of arrests, Hussam "Sam" Elhosseiny, 25, of Ashland was arraigned in the Hayward Hall of Justice and charged with fatally shooting Rogers on Nov. 12. Ahern said Rogers — survived by a 2-year-old son and a fiancee pregnant with his child — was in the wrong Ashland neighborhood at the wrong time. "We believe it was just an argument that ensued over an SUV that was illegally parked." The group of friends had just arrived back at their apartment complex in the Ashland area after a night of drinking. It was about 4 a.m. They pulled up to the Ashland Garden Apartments — home to Lee and Hussam Elhosseiny — in a Ford Excursion. Whoever was driving temporarily double-parked the SUV in the middle of Ashland Avenue. Seven people are believed to have been present, and some of them remain under investigation as possible accomplices, Ahern said. Rogers came driving down the street in his red Chevrolet Corsica, apparently heading home. He found his route blocked by the SUV. Harsh words were exchanged between Rogers and the men in the Excursion. Police say Lee came over to the Corsica and allegedly attacked Rogers in his vehicle. Ahern said Lee cut his hand in the melee, and detectives say that helped them trace the blood back to Lee's nearby apartment. At some point, detectives say, Hussam Elhosseiny fired a semiautomatic pistol into the Corsica. Two bullets struck Rogers, one in his torso. He attempted to escape, driving nearly two miles before he crashed on Tropic Court near Lewelling Boulevard. Police officers found him lying outside the car. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. His maternal grandmother, Deloise Quarles, said outside a courtroom Friday that Rogers was "intelligent, attentive, and he loved his family. He was fixing to get married, and it all went down the drain. He didn't bother anyone. It's not fair."moremore