Gunman in murder-for-hire of Oakland dentist gets 15-years-to-life in prison

A Stockton man was sentenced to 15 years to life in state prison for a fatal shooting of a dentist in Oakland in 2022, according to Alameda County prosecutors.

Hasheem Bason, 35, submitted a no contest plea to second-degree murder for the deadly shooting of Dr. Lili Xu on Aug. 21, 2022 in the 1000 block of Fifth Avenue in the city's Little Saigon neighborhood, the Alameda County District Attorney's Office said in a statement Tuesday.

Authorities said that Xu's murder was planned by her romantic partner, Nelson Chia.

"The month before she was killed, Dr. Xu discovered that Mr. Chia was involved in multiple acts of infidelity while he was simultaneously trying to take control of her sizable assets. Further investigation uncovered evidence of Mr. Chia openly discussing how he could capitalize on Dr. Xu's death," prosecutors said.

The District Attorney's Office noted that video evidence showed Chia held a banquet in Xu's honor and tried to raise money for his own foundation, playing the role of a grieving partner even though he was the mastermind of her death.

According to investigators, Bason was a vulnerable youth when he and Chia had allegedly established an inappropriate exploitative relationship. Chia had allegedly tracked Bason down and threatened to reveal the secrets of his youth unless Bason helped him in killing Xu.

"The shooting death of popular dentist Lili Xu traumatized our entire community. In this case, we learned extreme mitigating circumstances that had to be considered in resolving the case against Mr. Bason," District Attorney Pamela Price said in a statement.

Price added, "The public should know that the person who truly deserves the maximum punishment under the law is Nelson Chia, the mastermind of this horrible crime. Unfortunately, when the true facts were discovered, Chia, who was arrested for the crime, took his own life to avoid facing justice for his role in these acts of evil. Although Hasheem Bason was not the person who made the plan to take the life of Lili Xu, he did, in fact, pull the trigger of the gun that killed her, and for that, he will go to prison for 15 years to life."

Bason is scheduled to appear in court for his sentencing on Aug. 20.