Hit-and-run kills teen on a Sacramento County road with no sidewalk. His family wants justice
Shawn Jordan, a soft-spoken musician who loved purple nail polish and his black cat, Razzle, died Thursday after a hit-and-run crash on a North Highlands road with no sidewalk, family said. He was 18.
The fatal crash occurred five days earlier, just after 8 p.m. June 15 on Walerga Road. On the night of the crash, Jordan was walking home and was on the north end of the overpass that crosses Roseville Road, according to family members. The teenager slipped into a coma the next day and later died of his injuries in the hospital.
“Our family’s grieving,” said his aunt, Liz Ames. “We want some kind of justice. It’s not gonna make him come back, but we want justice.”
The California Highway Patrol is investigating the fatality. On Tuesday, CHP announced it was seeking information on a possible suspect vehicle: a four-door sedan that appeared to be a red Mitsubishi Lancer from 2000 to 2003. The car would likely have front-end damage. A spokesperson for the CHP’s North Sacramento office asked anyone with information about the incident to call 916-348-2300.
A homeless man, Dave, heard the crash, ran to Jordan’s side and called paramedics, Ames said.
Jordan had spent the day with his partner. The pair went to lunch and shopped for clothes. “They had, like,” Ames started to cry, “a really nice day together.”
Jordan was headed back to his father’s house, where he lived part-time with Razzle the cat.
“He was minutes away from home when this happened,” Ames said. “He was almost home.”
‘A quiet soul’
Shawn Jordan was born Dec. 12, 2005, to Marie Martinez and Seth Jordan, at Mercy San Juan Hospital. He was premature, and his parents fussed over him during his stay in the neonatal intensive care unit. He grew up incredibly close with his slightly older brother, Seth Jr., who was born in January of the same year.
At the time of his death, Jordan split his time with his parents — his father lives in North Highlands, and his mother in Citrus Heights. The young man was working on his GED. He loved making music and collaborating with his cousin, Berkeley, who is now 20 and grew up alongside him. Using the artist name “Paranoid,” he published his work on YouTube and on Spotify, where his icon was a cat.
The teenager, his aunt said, “was just a quiet soul.” He was also a little eccentric. He dyed his hair purple; he painted his nails purple and black; he loved eyeliner, fashion and the moon.
Jordan is one of dozens of people killed on roads in Sacramento County this year. A disproportionate number of them were on foot. As of Friday, the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office had publicly logged 23 pedestrian deaths in the county this year; Jordan’s death, currently categorized as “Other,” would mark at least the 24th.
A report from the nonprofit Smart Growth America revealed that the capital region was the 20th most deadly metropolitan area for pedestrians in the country.
In addition to a close-knit extended family, Jordan is survived by his parents, his older sister, Christina Richardson; his brother, Seth Jr.; and his younger sister, Lennox, who is 10.
This story was originally published June 21, 2024 at 5:14 PM.
CORRECTION: CHP released information about a possible suspect vehicle after this story was published. The story has been updated to reflect that information.
