Oakland man who killed father in front of young son gets 21 years

OAKLAND — A man has been sentenced to 21 years in prison for killing an Oakland father in front of the victim’s son, who came into court years later and testified about witnessing the shooting.

Luis Estrada, 37, pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter in the June 2021 killing of 44-year-old Cesar Parrilla. As part of a plea deal, Alameda County prosecutors dropped a murder charge and Estrada was sentenced to 21 years.

Estrada remains at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin and is next due in court in February so a judge can decide how much he owes in victim restitution, records show.

In 2023, Parilla’s then-10-year-old son took the witness stand and came face-to-face with his father’s killer, identifying Estrada as the man who killed his dad after pulling up in a vehicle and verifying Cesar’s name. Parilla was shot and killed on June 21, 2021 on the 400 block of Capistrano Drive in Oakland’s Sobrante Park neighborhood, court records show.

“He shot my dad,” Parrilla’s son testified at the preliminary hearing, adding that he was somewhat familiar with guns from playing violent video games like Grand Theft Auto.

Estrada and Parrilla had a “longstanding feud” because Parrilla “stole one or two dogs from him,” an Oakland police detective testified. In an interview with investigators, Estrada also reportedly claimed that Parrilla had reached into the trunk, which Estrada’s lawyer argued that Estrada could have reasonably interpreted as a sign Parrilla was reaching for a gun.

Estrada entered the no contest plea on Oct. 9, records show.