A man who was fatally shot in a gas station parking lot in Hayward Friday evening was one of the men traveling with Oscar Grant III when he was shot and killed on a BART platform in 2009.

Police discovered the man, Johntue Caldwell, 25, suffering from gunshot wounds in a car sitting in the parking lot of a gas station at West Tennyson Road and Calaroga Avenue at around 5:30 p.m. Caldwell was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police.

Caldwell was Grant's best friend and the godfather of his 7-year-old daughter, Tatiana. Grant's Uncle Cephus Johnson told The Bay Citizen that Caldwell also had two children of his own, 4 and 2 years old, and had recently begun attending school and buying and selling cars. Caldwell and Grant had been best friends since they were six years old, he said.

Police said that Caldwell had been sitting in the parked car when at least one suspect approached and fired several rounds. Johnson said the assailant shot through the windshield of the car. A gas station attendant said he heard two shots fired. As customers scattered, he called 911.

The suspect ran away and was not located during a search of the surrounding area, police said.

Investigators said they do not believe the shooting was random, although a motive for the shooting has not been determined.

Caldwell was with Grant on Jan. 1, 2009, when former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle shot Grant, who was unarmed, on the Fruitvale Station platform. Caldwell later sued BART for $5 million. A BART attorney said at the time that he had a criminal history.

John Burris, an attorney for the Grant family, told the Chronicle's Henry Lee: 

"Nothing I know about Johntue says that he was involved in any illegal activity...Johntue was a wonderful young man..."

Caldwell was "getting his life together," Johnson told The Bay Citizen. "He was doing much better things as far as taking care of his kids, being a good son, a good nephew."

Johnson said the family did not know what preceded the shooting, only that it occurred near his mother's home, where Caldwell grew up.

"We don't know what or why. They're saying it was a random act. There's so many questions that have to be answered."

Updated at 10:35 with further information. Bay City News Service also contributed to this report.