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Man Shot 8 Times Outside Home in Hercules

Jay Barmann — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:30:45 GMT

With at least fifteen shots fired, a Hercules man was gunned down outside his townhouse at about 10:30 p.m. last night. It appears to be a gang-style hit, with the suspect waiting for the victim to arrive home and firing so many shots at close range before fleeing on foot. Hercules, for those who don't know, is a small-ish bedroom community in the East Bay, north of Richmond, which in recent years has seen a ton of new development and a huge rise in population. All KRON 4 knows is that the victim was 43 years old, and that police don't have any leads on the assailant.

East Bay Gas Pipes to Be Extra Stinky Today

Jay Barmann — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:05:42 GMT

A batch of natural gas coming down a Pacific Northwest pipeline was mistakenly produced with too much odorant -- the stuff called mercaptan that smells like sulfur that they add to the usually odorless gas so that you can detect a leak. This means a great many people in the easterly Bay Area may turn on their gas stoves to an especially yucky smell for the next day or so, and PG&E will be getting a whole shitload of calls from paranoid people who get a whiff and think there's a problem. The smelly gas has already set off odor alarms at PG&E's own compressor stations. An official from the company says the smell should dissipate after today and that not all customers will smell it because multiple pipelines feed gas to the area.

Hasanni Campbell's Foster Father Will Not Be Charged

Brock Keeling — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:06:19 GMT

According to the red, scary box on CBS 5, "The foster father of missing Fremont boy Hasanni Campbell will not be charged in his disappearance because of insufficient evidence, according to the district attorney." If you recall, Louis Ross, 38, was arrested on Friday, suspected by police of killing five-year-old Hasanni Campbell, who went missing in mid-August. This recent decision comes a day after Campbell's foster mother, Jennifer Campbell, was temporarily cleared of charges.

Horrifying Details Unfold in Dugard Kidnapping Case

Brock Keeling — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 09:34:29 GMT

Jaycee Lee Dugard, the girl who was kidnapped on her way to catch a school bus in 1991 only to reveal herself to police this week, had spent most of her life in captivity. According to reports, Dugard was "kept hidden from the world behind a series of fences, sheds and tents for nearly two decades, even giving birth to her suspected abductor's children." (Take an aerial look of the yard via this Google Maps view.) CBS 5 / AP reports that her kidnapper, 58-year-old Phillip Garrido, "raped her and fathered two children with her, the first when Jaycee was about 14." The children, girls ages 11 and 15, "also were kept hidden away in the backyard compound behind the Antioch home."

One neighbor, it seems, could hear children playing in Garrido's yard, but never followed through with their gut instincts.

Neighbor Diane Doty said she could see the tents and often heard children playing in the backyard, the corner of which abuts her own backyard. She said she even suspected the children lived in the tents, but her husband said she should leave the family alone.
"I asked my husband, 'Why is he living in tents?"' she said. "And he said, 'Maybe that is how they like to live."'

Neither Dugard nor her children ever went to school or to see a doctor.

According to CoCo Times, a UC Berkeley police officer was key in setting Degard and her kids free.

East Bay Afghan Community Riveted to Election in Afghanistan

Jay Barmann — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:04:17 GMT

The East Bay is home to over 40,000 Afghan-Americans, and the big news back home in Afghanistan over the past two days has been the country's second national election since the end of Taliban rule in 2001. A lower turnout was reported than in the last election, largely due to threats of Taliban attacks on polling station and general apathy about the political situation in the country.

But incumbent President Harmid Karzai is still favored to win -- though there may be a runoff if one of the other 36 official candidates pulls too many votes. KQED brings us the story below, featuring an interview with Farid Younos, an Afghan-American professor at Cal State East Bay, who doesn't sound like he's too fond of any of the candidates but remains hopeful that his home country can someday soon become less of a mess.

UPDATE: Looks like there'll be a runoff.

$10,000 Reward For Missing Fremont Boy

Brock Keeling — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 09:03:59 GMT

On Monday, the Oakland police department and Crime Stoppers offered up $10,000 for information leading to the return of five-year-old Hassani Campbell, the 5-year-old boy with cerebral palsy who went missing a week ago. If you recall, Hussani vanished from the parking lot of the Shuz of Rockridge shoe store at around 4:!5 p.m. last Monday. According to reports, "Oakland police spokesman Jeff Thomason said that police have only received about 50 tips, which he said is unusually low for a week-old missing child case." And, really this is a good chunk of change. So, if you know the whereabouts or any information on Hussani, who usually wears leg braces and arch supports on his feet, call the Oakland Police Department or Crime Stoppers at 510-777-8572 or 510-777-3211.

Drive-By Freeway Shooting on I-80 This Morning

Jay Barmann — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 09:01:16 GMT

What is this, Los Angeles in the 80s? A man driving in his Prius around 4:30 a.m. on I-80 near the 580 split at around Golden Gate Fields in Albany, was shot at a whole bunch of times by someone in an "older white vehicle." The man was too in shock to identify anything more about the shooter or his vehicle, and while he was only shot in the leg, his car has half a dozen bullet holes in it. He drove, still in shock, all the way home to Richmond, pulled into his driveway and called his brother, who then called Richmond police.