Ryan M. Christie, 47, was found on the morning of June 14, 2025, lying on the sidewalk near Euclid Avenue and East 14th Street in San Leandro, still holding his dog's leash. Responding officers and medical personnel pronounced him dead at the scene, and investigators determined he had suffered a single gunshot wound to the back, likely fired around 11 p.m. the night before. The dog was unharmed, and the killing marked San Leandro's first homicide of the year.
The victim, a White/Caucasian male, was identified by the Alameda County Coroner's Bureau later that month.
In the early days after the discovery, police shared few details about a possible motive, and urged anyone with information to come forward as they canvassed the neighborhood around the busy corridor where the body was found. Coverage drew attention to the stark image of the scene—the leash still looped in the victim's hand—while the dog was taken into temporary care. Friends and family later confirmed his identity and the date of his death, and a local obituary memorialized his life and ties to the Bay Area and Missouri.
Weeks later, San Leandro police announced an arrest. Detectives identified 49-year-old Andre Thomas Williams of San Leandro as a suspect and located him at an apartment complex on Pavilion Parkway in Tracy, where he was taken into custody without incident. Prosecutors with the Alameda County District Attorney's Office charged Williams with murder; police served search warrants at locations linked to him and reported recovering additional evidence in the case. Authorities did not disclose a motive, and the charging decision underscored that the case would proceed through the courts while Williams remained presumed innocent.
As the legal process began, news reports reiterated the timeline that framed the investigation: a nighttime shooting on June 13 turning into a grim discovery the next morning of Ryan M. Christie, 47, a White/Caucasian male, on a familiar dog-walking route in his own city. The arrest offered a measure of direction for a shaken neighborhood, but with no public account of why it happened, the unanswered questions lingered where the leash was found and the morning traffic first slowed.
