Violent Oakland Weekend -- One Dead, Four Wounded In Gunfire On Oakland Streets
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- It was another violent weekend on Oakland streets: An Alameda man was killed and two women wounded in an early morning shooting in downtown Oakland while two men were wounded -- one gravely -- when a gunman riddled a College Ave. barber shop with riddled with bullets.
Oakland investigators were scrambling Monday to identify the motives and suspects behind the two shootings.
"The City of Oakland experienced more acts of violent crime this weekend," the police department said in a statement released Sunday night. "The Oakland Police Department is addressing these crimes through the investigative work of OPD's Criminal Investigation Division, collaboration with the Violent Crime Operations Center and Ceasefire, and through the continued allocation of additional patrol staffing in the areas where these violent crimes occurred."
Oakland police said three lives were lost to violence last week. There were 48 instances of gunfire in the city with 29 robberies and 1 carjacking.
On Monday, Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong toured an area of downtown Oakland along the 1900 block of Telegraph Ave. to speak with reporters and business owners who have been affected by ongoing violence.
"It's definitely a sad weekend for the city of Oakland," said Armstrong. "Two homicides and another gentleman that is clinging to life as we speak. It definitely shows that the level of violence in Oakland has not come down, not to my liking."
Armstrong said the shootings were an escalation to the type of crime typically seen in areas of downtown, Chinatown and Fruitvale and comes as the department is challenged with staffing needs.
"Typically we see car burglaries in this area, typically we may see some thefts, but we don't receive very many shootings," said Armstrong. "That is extremely concerning that people come into our downtown to have a good time and patronize our businesses and unfortunately they end up being a victim or a witness to a very tragic event. So again, trying to increase presence, trying to work with community, but also asking for the community's help in order to identify the person for this violent act."
Police spokeswoman Johnna Watson said officers responded to reports of a shooting in the 1900 block of Broadway around 2:37 a.m. Sunday.
Upon arrival, they discovered evidence of a shooting and received notification that several victims were at local hospitals seeking treatment.
An Alameda man succumbed to his wounds. Two adult females -- one a Novato resident and the other Modesto resident -- arrived at Children's Hospital with gunshot wounds. Both were transported to Highland Hospital and were in stable condition.
The victim's identity was being withheld pending notification to next of kin.
On Saturday evening, a gunman riddled an Oakland College Ave. barber shop with bullets, gravely wounding a customer and sending a barber to the hospital for treatment.
Oakland police said the shooting took place around 5:50 p.m. Saturday at the Extravagant Grooming Lounge in the 5200 block of College Ave. in the Rockridge district.
Watson said upon arrival, officers found the shop riddled with bullets and the gunman having fled the scene.
The gravely wounded man was in his 20s and a customer at the shop. A second victim, a barber, was also critically injured but able to transport himself to a hospital.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Homicide Section at (510) 238-3821 or the TIP LINE at 238-7950.
The slaying was the 85th homicide in Oakland this year. Last year at this time police had investigated 64 homicides in the city.
