OAKLAND — As the police department’s top official laid out a grim tally of multiple shootings, three homicides and resource-draining sideshow enforcement effort over the holiday weekend, he acknowledged the factors affecting that violence locally as well as nationally.
In his third press conference in eight days, Oakland police Chief LeRonne Armstrong outlined the multiple incidents that officers were forced to respond to, offering praise for their diligence and poise.
After noting a slight decrease in homicides within city limits and the recovery of 860 firearms by officers this year, for a 42 percent increase compared to last year, Armstrong mentioned the fatal Friday night shooting at 30th Avenue and International Boulevard. He declined to identify the victim, citing next-of-notification efforts, before asking members of the public who might be witnesses or hold information to contact investigators.
He then mentioned the discovery of a 27-year-old man and 25-year-old woman found early Monday at a home in the 300 block of Perkins Street in the city’s Adams Point neighborhood, and said investigators have classified the incident as a murder-suicide, recovering a weapon used in the incident and assuring the public that no other suspects appear outstanding.
He followed with an update on the fatal shooting late Monday of a man found inside a car in the 8700 block of Dowling Street, noting that evidence technicians recovered more than 100 rounds from at least three multiple-caliber firearms at the scene, and asking that anyone with information to contact investigators.
Armstrong then mentioned the shooting incident around 8:30 p.m. Monday in the 2500 block of 26th Avenue that nearly claimed a 3-year-old boy’s life, praising the officers who took stock of severe injury to his torso and chose to take him in a patrol vehicle to a hospital for treatment. The child was listed Tuesday in critical but stable condition, and investigators are looking into the possible involvement of a relative, he said.
Soon after that shooting, officers responded to the Oakland Coliseum for reports of a possible shooting victim during the Oakland A’s postgame firework show. Armstrong said that a fifth victim contacted them early Monday after four others each suffered similar, non-life-threatening injuries in the stands or on the playing field during the fireworks display.
“This particular shooting really brings to light that when bullets go up, they also come down,” Armstrong said in part, acknowledging that shooters believed to have been firing in celebration from a nearby location, based in part on callers who reported gunfire to dispatchers, and adding that an officer detail will still continue to provide safety for Athletics fans attending games.
The department and Crime Stoppers have offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a shooting suspect.
Armstrong then mentioned sideshow efforts to clear out more than 200 vehicles that gathered Monday night in Oakland led to towing of 27 vehicles and recovery of six firearms, joining another six recovered by officers over the holiday weekend.
“I just want to thank all of the Oakland police officers who worked,” Armstrong said in part. “We had extra resources out this weekend. We did as much as we could to manage the level of activity that we see in the city.”
He closed out the press conference by offering his best wishes to the victims “suffering as a result of tragedy there” after the Fourth of July parade shooting in Highland Park, Ill., drawing a direct link between the grim toll there and the damage seen in Oakland.
“I will say that it’s also concerning that in Oakland without these weapons that we recovered this week could have caused the same type of harm and damage to our community,” he said. “We know that high-powered weapons are in our community, and I’ve said over and over again, they have no business in this community. These are weapons of war, and we can’t continue to see these weapons take so many lives. It is sad that it continues to happen.
“But I think this weekend, even in Oakland, I think we were lucky with the number of rounds that were fired in our city, the number of firearms that were being used in our city. We are lucky that we didn’t have significant injury to people. We’re lucky that nobody was severely injured at the Coliseum as well. And so again, this just highlights how important it is that we do something about these assault rifles that continue to find their ways into communities and cause so much harm and damage.”
Contact George Kelly at 408-859-5180.
Source: www.mercurynews.com