Fallout between rappers led to deadly Oakland freeway shooting

OAKLAND, Calif. - A suspect has been arrested and charged with murder in a deadly freeway shooting last fall in Oakland. 

Larry Coney, 27, was charged with murder and shooting at an occupied vehicle in the October shooting of Monnie Price Jr.

KTVU has learned that the shooting was the result of an ongoing feud between two former friends.

"I thought it was a bunch of kid stuff," said Price's father, the Rev. Ramon Price. "I never knew it would lead to this."

He said his son and the suspect were rappers who used to hang out together. But they had a falling out. The victim was known as "Lil Monnie 23."

"They had both put out songs about each other, so one of my son's rap songs is about Larry, and he's talking about him, and Larry, they went back and forth," the father said.

The shooting occurred at about 4:45 p.m. Oct. 27, on Interstate 580 between the 98th Avenue on-ramp and MacArthur Boulevard, according to the CHP.

The victim was driving a Chevy Malibu.

Coney, in a gold Mercedes, chased Price and opened fire with a .223-caliber rifle, the CHP says. Price continued to drive on the freeway but later stopped. He died at the scene.

The CHP said Coney had been planning to kill Price for weeks because of an ongoing fused over "notoriety."

"Just a callous disregard for life, not just my son's life, but many of the other people that could have been affected or shot and killed at that time," Price said

He said news of the arrest is bittersweet.

"It shocked me at first. I mean, I thought I would feel better, but it didn't make me feel no better," he said.

Coney was arrested while already at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, charged with having a loaded AK-47-style assault pistol in a car in Hayward. He has pleaded not guilty in that case. 

"If everything goes the way it should, he will probably spend the rest of his life ni jail, so not only did he end my son's life, he ended his own life," Price said.