Embattled Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price seemed to be trying to quash rumors when she insisted in a new statement that three alleged gang members accused in an April 2023 freeway shooting that left a five-year-old girl dead will indeed be prosecuted.

The shooting on I-880 that killed five-year-old Eliyanah Crisostomo last year sent shockwaves around the Bay — especially given it was the second East Bay freeway shooting to claim the life of a young child in eighteen months, following the November 2021 shooting of two-year-old Jasper Wu in Oakland.

Crisostomo was shot while driving with her family in a car in Fremont, and within three weeks, three suspects were in custody: Humberto Anaya, Kristo Ayala Valderrama, and Emmanuel Sarango. The three alleged gang members, Price said at the time, mistook the Crisostomo's vehicle for that of rival gang members.

The trio allegedly flashed Sureño gang symbols as the committed the shoting and shouted the word "Sureño."

DA Pamela Price has come under fire for appearing to be too lenient in the charging of violent criminals — and her objection in principal to criminal enhancements is one of the things raised by critics looking to get her recalled.

Price sounds like she wants to put to rest the idea that she won't pursue enhanced charges in the case of Crisostomo's killing, and to quash an apparent rumor that the three suspects in the case are set to be released.

In a video statement Tuesday posted to YouTube and X, Price said, "What I want the public to know is that there are three men whom we believe committed this heinous crime and that those three men have each been charged with murder, with gang and gun enhancements, and that they face charges that, if convicted, will result in a sentence of 101 years to life."

Price continued, "If you are hearing anything in our community that suggests that they are going to be released into the community or that they are not going to be held accountable, that is misleading and inaccurate."

It's not clear where any rumor may have started about the three suspects being released from police custody, but someone connected to the Recall Pamela Price campaign would be a good guess.

Price is facing a recall vote in November, the second recall attempt against a progressive Bay Area prosecutor in two years. San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin, who was also portrayed by critics as soft on crime, was recalled in June 2022.

Last week's was a bad news cycle for Price, with news about three relatively lenient plea deals in a brutal kidnap and murder case from 2021.