UPDATE: Oakland Police Identify 2 People Fatally Shot in Recent Surge of Homicides
OAKLAND (BCN/CBS SF) -- Police in Oakland on Friday released the names of two recent homicide victims who were among those who lost their lives in the latest surge in street violence.
Mark Downs, a 49-year-old Oakland resident, was fatally shot early Wednesday morning in the 2600 block of East 27th Street in East Oakland.
Officers responded at 3:46 a.m. after they were alerted to gunshots by the department's ShotSpotter gunshot detection system.
A week earlier on May 7, 62-year-old Ernesto Ortega was shot to death in the 2300 block of 55th Avenue. Officers responded to that shooting at 12:42 a.m. after someone reported a person on the ground.
Officers located Ortega and found him unresponsive and suffering from gunshot wounds. He died at the scene.
The fatal shooting of Ortega on Friday morning kicked off a particularly weekend in a year that has seen police reporting an enormous spike in deadly Oakland street violence.
Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong on Monday vowed that he and his department were determined to halt the surge in gun violence that continued last weekend including two homicides and nearly a dozen shootings over a 36-hour span.
The violence that started with Ortega's fatal shooting early Friday continued on Saturday.
Less than four hours later, officers were investigating a second homicide. Around 4:15 a.m., officers were dispatched to the 1400 block of 3rd Street to investigate the report of a shooting.
Upon arrival, officers located an unresponsive male suffering from a gunshot wound. He also was declared at the scene.
Over the next 13 hours, officers investigated seven separate shootings with a total of 10 victims.
"Hearing the constant gunfire, many of you may feel hopeless, frustrated, and fearful," Armstrong said in a news release. "As your chief, I refuse to give up! OPD needs your [local residents] help to reduce the violence in our city."
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