SFist Blotter

Berkeley mourns a local standout, shot walking home with a group of friends to her summer sublet apartment on the Cal campus after a party last weekend. Meleia Willis-Starbuck, who had gone to high school in Berkeley, was volunteering at the Women's Drop-In Center on her summer break from Dartmouth. She and her friends had gotten in an argument with a group of boys on Saturday night over their use of the word "bitch," and Willis-Starbuck asked if they would call their mother that name. The boys apologized and they all left on good terms, but a few blocks later, at Dwight and College, someone drove up to them and fired shots into their group, killing Willis-Starbuck. The Berkeley Police are requesting that anyone with information give them a call.

In other news, a backpack stuffed into an Onion distro box caused a 90 minute bomb squad search at the Powell Street MUNI/BART stop. The backpack turned out to be no big deal, after the bomb squad blew it up.

And wow, a lot of accidents on I-80 in the last few days. One at Ashby, one at Powell (the IKEA exit), and one in Fairfield. Don't cut off tractor trailers, folks!