Father mourns son, 17, shot dead in Fremont

Oakland, Calif. (KTVU) - Bay Area radio personality Kareem Chadly is reeling over the killing of his only child, 17-year-old Damani Chadly.

Damani was riding in a Mercedes on Dec.4 when someone opened fire, killing him and sending the car crashing into a home in Fremont. The driver of the Mercedes was also shot but survived.

"I feel like I've been through a range of different emotions this last week and a couple of days. Anger. Well, first sadness. Distraughtness. Anger," Chadly said.

Fremont police haven't discussed a motive but say they're following up on leads.

Chadly says he doesn't know what led up to the shooting. He's focusing on fond memories of his son.

His name, Damani comes from an African language meaning "thoughtful."

"That was me and his mom's hope for him, that he came out and was thoughtful and cared about people," he said.

Damani was a senior at California High School in San Ramon. He was into music production and loved just about every sport.

"I cut my son's umbilical cord," Chadly said. "I was there for every baseball game. I was there for every soccer game. Years and years of hope and wishes."

Father and son shared a love for radio broadcasting.

Damani had worked with students in downtown Oakland at Youth Radio, now called YR Media.

"He was just a very energetic, confident, talented music producer," said Galnadgee Joe-Johnson, sound engineer at YR Media.

Joe-Johnson says Damani inspired students at the studio.

"He taught a lot of our students and really helped evolve how they see themselves as producers, as well as how they operated the software here," Joe-Johnson said.

That his son helped others brings comfort to Chadly, who is struggling to make sense of his loss.

"This is not something that i foresee myself ever fully recovering from, or feeling better about. Not waking up and having that piece, that piece of your heart and soul missing. I don't foresee that ever going away."