A shooting occurred on Interstate-580 in Oakland Thursday morning, leading to the closure of all eastbound lanes for thirty minutes as the California Highway Patrol investigated. Authorities spoke to a victim and a witness, but no injuries were reported.

As KRON4 reports, the shooting happened around 11:45 am Thursday on eastbound I-580 at High Street in Oakland, and the CHP arrived at the scene a little before noon. Authorities spoke to a victim and a witness during the investigation, but as KRON4 notes, no injuries from the shooting were reported. KRON4 also reports that the CHP has not yet located a suspect.

Per NBC Bay Area, all eastbound lanes near the Fruitvale Avenue exit were closed for about thirty minutes, as can be seen from the Caltrans footage included in the outlet's video segment below. The outlet notes in the video report that although the closure was pretty brief, traffic quickly backed up for several miles — all the way to Highway 24. Westbound traffic was not affected.

Earlier reports from NBC Bay Area and KTVU yesterday said the shooting happened near Fruitvale Avenue, as both outlets obtained footage from the Citizen app that placed the shooting in the area of 2510 Montana Street. KRON4's more recent report says the investigation took place at High Street.

The CHP is seeking information from the public regarding the case. Anyone with any information is asked to contact Officer B. Perez at the CHP Oakland Area office at 510-457-2875.

Image: Screenshot from Citizen

A Fruitvale District fire early Sunday afternoon destroyed one residential building and damaged another, displacing 13 residents in the two-alarm fire whose smoke was visible from nearly five miles away.

The Chronicle has the news of a two-alarm fire Sunday afternoon in Oakland’s Fruitvale district that displaced 13 people, including one child. But this fire may not be news to you if you were driving in or around Oakland Sunday afternoon, as the giant plumes of black smoke were visible from nearly five miles away.

The Oakland Fire Department was on the scene at 2352 East 17th Street shortly before noon Sunday, and shot the on-the-scene images below. About 40 firefighters arrived to find electrical wires down on a reported four structures that were initially impacted by the fire.

The fire was contained by 12:40 pm Sunday, but by then, the fire department was describing it as a “multi story / multi unit structure of origin” fire. One pickup truck was completely engulfed by then, and several other parked cars suffered substantial damage.

The whole fire was out by 1:04 pm, but there was substantial wreckage. The Red Cross provided shelter for 12 adults and one child displaced by the blaze.

There were thankfully no injuries in the fire, and its cause is still under investigation.

Related: Oakland Firefighters Contain Huge Four-Alarm Blaze at Lumber Warehouse [SFist]

Image: @OaklandFireCA via Twitter

Three 100-pound dogs attacked and killed a 53-year-old man in Oakland Sunday, and the owner has been charged with a felony, as the dogs apparently had a history of attacks.

We’re now learning that a 53-year-old Oakland man was mauled to death by three large dogs at around 12:20 pm Sunday, according to the Bay Area News Group. The victim was Robert Holguin, who was living in a car on the dog owner’s property on the 1600 block of 36th Avenue near Fruitvale, and the two men were apparently friends. But the owner left, the dogs escaped from a backyard fence, and attacked Holguin. Paramedics arrived, but Holguin was declared dead on the scene.

Now KTVU is reporting the dogs’ owner, 57-year-old Brendan Burke, has been charged with a felony count of failing to control animals killing a person. Sources also told KTVU that there were six dogs overall on the property, and they have a history of violent behavior toward people.  The Bay Area News Group also adds that the dogs did not stop attacking until a bystander started striking them with a pipe.

The dogs were all mixes of Cane Corso and Neapolitan Mastiff breeds, all 100 pounds or heavier, and the News Group notes they have some violent history. One of the dogs had attacked another smaller dog in the neighborhood in October 2023, but the owner of the smaller dog declined to press charges. Court documents on this case noted the dogs had a history of “discipline issues.”

“This is so rare — it’s really, really scary, but it’s so rare,” Oakland Animal Services director Emily Wood told the News Group. Wood added that her staff could not recall any similar dog attacks in decades.

The three dogs have now been euthanized, per the News Group, and three other dogs who’d lived on the property have been taken into the care of the Oakland Animal Services division.  But the News Group and KTVU both observed people visiting the house in question with similar very large dogs on Thursday.

Related: Woman Convicted In Notorious SF Dog-Mauling Murder Case Gets Denied Parole [SFist]

Image: Sophie Hollies via Unsplash

Oakland police have made an arrest in the June 16 hit-and-run that killed grandmother Santu Maya, and the suspect, 28-year-old convicted car thief Josue Ortega, also has pending shooting charges from a separate incident.

We reported last month on a fatal hit-and-run near Fruitvale in Oakland that took the life of Santu Maya, a Thai immigrant who'd only been in the country for four months after moving here to be with her daughter and grandchildren. Nearly two weeks later, Hoodline reported than an unnamed suspect had been identified, and Oakland police had released photos of the suspect.

Late Tuesday afternoon of this week, the Oakland PD announced on Facebook they’d made an arrest. “The Oakland Police Department (OPD) made an arrest for the fatal hit-and-run of Santu Maya, which occurred on June 16, 2023, in the intersection of Foothill Boulevard and Vicksburg Avenue,” they said in the announcement. “Due to the relentless and collaborative efforts of OPD Patrol Officers and the US Marshals, an individual has been safely taken into custody.”

That announcement did not name the suspect. But KTVU has the scoop that the suspect is 28-year-old Josue Ortega, whom they describe as a “convicted car thief, with a pending shooting case being prosecuted by the Alameda County District Attorney's Office.”  

There is a snippet of surveillance video of the fatal hit-and-run in the June KTVU segment above, which be warned, is a little graphic. At the time of the incident, Ortega was allegedly driving a black Mercedes-Benz at the intersection of Foothill Boulevard and Vicksburg Avenue. Oakland police said last month that “speed and street racing appear to be contributing factors.”

And it appears another suspect was arrested in connection with this case. The Bay Area News Group reported yesterday that "Authorities on Tuesday announced the arrest of a 19-year-old man," in connection withy Maya's killing. That report does not name the suspect, but adds that the suspect "lives near the scene of the collision, was arrested in the city, and the car he was driving at the time of the collision was found in another city."

It’s unclear whether there is further investigation, or whether more suspects are involved. If you have any information on Ortega or this incident, you’re asked to call Oakland Crime Stoppers at 510-777-8572. Tipsters can remain anonymous.

Related: 73-Year-Old Oakland Woman Killed in Hit-and-Run, Driver Suspected of Street Racing [SFist]

Image: Oakland Police Department

A Friday night hit-and-run near Fruitvale in Oakland took the life of 73-year-old Santu Maya, and police believe the suspect vehicle was engaged in illegal street racing.

Hoodline reported Saturday on a fatal Oakland hit-and-run near Fruitvale, which happened Friday night around 7 p.m. at the intersection of Foothill Boulevard and Vicksburg Avenue. While the speeding suspect drove off from the scene, KTVU obtained security video from the Thomas Adams Residential Care Facility (seen below, and it is graphic) and reported on Saturday that Oakland police had detained a “possible suspect.”

In their own Saturday morning reporting, KGO noted the victim had still not been identified and that Oakland PD was identifying her only as an "adult pedestrian". But KGO also reported that “Witnesses claim the crash was caused by an illegal street race.”

KRON4 spoke with one of those witnesses, who described the suspect’s reckless driving. “He was already swerving, and he was about to lose control of the vehicle and almost hit another car,” witness Lilly Medina told the station. “But he ended up getting control back, but that’s when he hit the girl, and the girl did a little flip to the air and that’s when she landed on the floor.”

Though it was not a girl, as on Monday night, KTVU identified the victim as 73-year-old Santu Maya. Maya had only been in the country for four months after moving here from Thailand to be with her daughter and grandchildren.

That KTVU report also identifies the suspect vehicle as a “black Mercedes sedan.” It’s unclear whether the previously detained suspect was ever charged, and per KRON4, "Oakland police are still looking for the driver responsible."

KPIX adds that the investigation is being handled by the Oakland Police Department Traffic Investigations Unit. If you have any information on this incident, you’re asked to call that unit  at (510) 777-8570.

Related: 100-Year-Old Man Killed In Oakland Hit-and-Run Identified, Mini Cooper Driver Still at Large [SFist]

Image: Google Street View

Six-and-a-half years after the Ghost Ship fire took the lives of 36 people, the Ghost Ship building has finally been torn down. And a low-income housing nonprofit may be turning it into an affordable housing site.

The Google Maps image above is the site of Ghost Ship, the former ramshackle illegal warehouse-apartment and underground party space whose deadly 2016 fire took the lives of 36 victims and produced years of courtroom fallout. Google Maps says the image was taken in July 2022. So as of ten months ago, the words “Ghost Ship” were still emblazoned on what remained of the scarred structure, a cruel, lingering reminder to the Fruitvale neighborhood of the tragedy that happened there.

But the words Ghost Ship, and the building itself, are no longer there. Bay Area News Group reports that the Ghost Ship building was finally torn down this month, and that a “fresh foundation now sits on the grounds of the Ghost Ship.” Moreover, the News Group adds that a community development nonprofit called the Unity Council bought the site for $2.56 million, with a strong likelihood of building a low-income housing complex there. The plan also will include a memorial to the fire victims.

“We did not take this decision lightly for sure,” Unity Council CEO Chris Iglesias told the News Group. “We’ll give this land much-needed care moving forward, the whole time being sensitive to the families. We just want to be really, really thoughtful in this process and just understand what a tragic event this was to them.”

An attorney for the Ghost Ship victims’ families, Mary Alexander, acknowledged to the News Group that the Unity Council had been “very sensitive — extraordinarily so — to the families and what they thought about it” in their communications.  Alexander added that according to her conversations with them, “they’re going to make it into low-income housing.”

Iglesias was a little less committal on that idea in his remarks. “We wanted to acquire the site and start a community process,” he explained to the News Group. “Obviously there’s a huge need for housing in Oakland and the Bay Area in general. That is definitely something we’re looking at.”

But the Unity Council does have an established track record of building and managing numerous senior affordable housing sites, and they’re also helping build out the Fruitvale Transit Village. They are clearly not some “greedy developer.”  And if they're providing housing for a low-income demographic, that helps avoid the type of Ghost Ship situation where people are living in ill-kept illegal units because of the price of Bay Area housing.

Related: Yet Another Party Decides to Call Itself ‘Ghost Ship,’ Faces Entirely Predictable Backlash [SFist]

Image: Google Street View

An estimated 6,000 East Oakland PG&E customers were without power between 3:30 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. Friday morning, all because of the wreckage caused by a 125 mph chase on I-880 near Fruitvale.  

The area seen above is a little worse for the wear Friday morning, all thanks to a 125-mile-per-hour hot pursuit on Interstate 880 which KTVU reports culminated in a crash that took down a power line not far from the Fruitvale BART station. California Highway Patrol officers were pursuing a suspect, who took the High Street offramp off I-880 and crashed straight into a power line, and, consequently, thousands were left without power for about three hours Friday morning.

The aftermath is seen above in footage taken just after 5 a.m. Friday morning. But the chase incident started around 3 a.m. in Hayward, with the suspect driving a Dodge Charger (the one seen above). A witness told KTVU that the driver suspect tried to escape on foot after colliding with the pole and a fence of a tow yard, but didn’t make it very far.

KPIX adds that “the impact of the crash knocked out power along 35th Ave. from just east of BART's Fruitvale Station to [the] Redwood Heights neighborhood across I-580.” That station also reports that “PG&E said nearly 6,000 customers were initially without power.”

Per KTVU, the suspect is a woman who was detained, and power was restored within a few hours. Thankfully, there were no injuries reported over the whole mess.

The California Highway Patrol did not disclose the reason for the initial chase.

Related: Video: Stolen Pickup Drives Wrong Way on I-880, Rams BART Police Van and Other Vehicles in San Leandro [SFist]

Image: Google Street View

A multi-vehicle crash on Sunday in Oakland's Fruitvale District looks to be the result of a fatal shooting in a different location, and now has become a homicide investigation.

A 71-year-old man was shot while behind the wheel of a pickup truck on International Boulevard on Sunday just before 6:30 p.m. His vehicle then was involved in a multi-vehicle crash on the 3300 block of International Boulevard, as KPIX reports, and arriving officers found that he was suffering from a gunshot wound and attempted life-saving measures. The man was declared dead at the scene.

As the East Bay Times reports, officers identified what they believed to be a shooting scene a short distance away from the crash. The location of that scene has not been reported, however the Citizen App noted that four shots were fired at 6:26 p.m. in the vicinity of the 2800 block of International Boulevard. Those shots were detected by ShotSpotter technology.

Police have not revealed the name of the victim, pending of next-of-kin notification, and no motive for the shooting has been discussed. Also, police have not described any suspect vehicles involved, or the victim's vehicle. Video posted to the Citizen App shows a black pickup truck having collided with what appears to be a black Honda Element, or similar.

This is Oakland's 29th homicide of the year. As the East Bay Times reports, the city had seen 34 homicides as of this time last year.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to please call the Oakland Police Department’s homicide section at 510-238-3821, or the tip line at 510-238-7950.

Image via Citizen App

Children in the Fruitvale neighborhood of Oakland are exposed to dangerous levels of lead, and a new report finds that contamination levels are even higher than those of Flint, Michigan. Reuters reported on Wednesday that 7.57 percent of Fruitvale children tested had high levels of lead in their blood — prompting fears that the toxin was in the water supply. However, according to CBS 5, the water is not to blame. Instead, officials point to lead paint peeling off of neighborhood homes.

"In Flint, the problem was the water system,” Larry Brooks of the Alameda County’s lead prevention program told the channel. “In Alameda County, no.” He added that “deteriorated lead-based paint can be found throughout Oakland," and that "most of the homes built in Oakland were built prior to 1980; 90 percent.”

Officials with the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) agreed with Brooks, telling ABC 7 that the water met or passed federal safety standards. However, just because water is not the source of the problem does not mean that the contamination isn't widespread. Brooks argues that it's not just Fruitvale that has a lead problem. “Over the last ten years, we've treated over 5,000 children for lead poisoning in the county,” he explained. “It is still a clear and present danger for children living in aging homes.”

Any level of lead in the blood is dangerous, noted Brooks. “My goal would be zero percent.”

Five hundred children were tested in the study, and the 7.57 percent with high levels of lead in their blood surpassed the national average of 2.5 percent and Flint levels of 5 percent. "In children up to age 6, the CDC threshold for an elevated blood lead level is 5 micrograms per deciliter," Reuters reports. "Any child who tests high warrants a public health response, the agency says; even a slight elevation can reduce IQ and stunt development."

This problem will not be easy to fix, but Oakland City Councilman Noel Gallo told ABC 7 that public officials must act. "We need to address that issue that's the bottom line, whether this takes county, East Bay MUD, federal government, we need to be more responsive to the children of East Oakland."

Related: Lead-Contaminated Water At Healdsburg Elementary Alarms Parents

Fruitvale Village, a transit-adjacent 255,000 square-foot real estate development with 47 housing units owned by a local nonprofit and completed in 2003, is getting a new commercial tenant: Google, the Alphabet, Inc.-owned technology company with a large Bay Area footprint in Mountain View and San Francisco. Far from a new corporate campus, however, Google's space in Fruitvale will instead serve as a tech lab, an education center with input from MIT that will serve local students by teaching computer science skills.

The Business Times learned of the lease from two anonymous sources, speculating that the exact location of the space will be 3301 East 12th St., Suite 101. USA Today reports via an email it obtained that the lease will house something called Code Next Lab, a Google program that's already been in pilot mode and involves the MIT Media Lab. Neither Google nor MIT spokespeople commented directly, but it appears as if the Code Next Lab will work with the Oakland Unified School District.

"It's incredibly exciting to have Google's presence in the Fruitvale," Claire Shorall, manager of computer science for the Oakland Unified School District told USA Today. "This really allows us to have a meaningful experience and exposure for middle-school students that plants the seeds of college and career readiness while still being in an environment that is sponsoring joy and creativity," she added. Google, along with most of its tech cohort, has been criticized for its lack of diversity, particularly as it pertains to black and brown employees and female employees.

Until now, Google has not tread in Oakland, and though streaming radio company Pandora has long called the city home, far fewer tech tenants have touched down in Oakland than in San Francisco. That's beginning to change with the entry of Uber, who last year snapped up the massive former Sears building downtown and hope to open a headquarters there next year. What kind of neighbor will such a large, wealthy company be against the backdrop of a historically diverse city that's rapidly gentrifying? That remains to be seen but is already the subject of much speculation. Recently, Salesforce donated $8.5 million to Oakland public schools to support STEM education, a move the Business Times reported last month, and others such as Apple have made more modest donations in Oakland, with that company giving 40 iPads to the East Oakland Youth Development Center not long ago.

Related: Did Prince Make An Anonymous $34 Million Donation To Help Oakland Before He Died?

BART is planning some major track repair work on weekends starting April 5 that will shut down service completely between Coliseum and Fruitvale stations. This means a "bus bridge" will be necessary to ferry passengers between the stations in both directions, at least through summer, and that means delays of anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes. Sorry, San Leandro.

As the Chronicle reports, BART needs to replace some 45-year-old track components that are overdue for replacement. To be exact: "1,000 battered and weather-beaten wooden ties, 2,000 cushioning pads, 3,000 feet of worn rail and four switches at a location known as an interlocking."

The work is estimated to require at least 11 weekends (but they're actually estimating completion in August, according to BART), with work sometimes beginning at 7 p.m., and sometimes requiring full days. This means major inconveniences for anyone traveling to or from Hayward, Fremont, Dublin/Pleasanton, Castro Valley, San Leandro, or Bayfair, since the "bus bridge" will just be a couple of AC transit buses that accommodate 52 people each — while every BART train carries an average of 600 people every 20 minutes.

So, BART is essentially telling everyone who lives in these places not to rely on BART this spring. "We understand this is going to inconvenience some people," says BART assistant general manager for operations Paul Oversier. "This should be considered a lifeline-type service for people who have no alternative. We strongly encourage people to use alternative transportation."

According to the official BART statement, "The area where these repairs must be done is part of the elevated track and is difficult to access, which is why a complete shut-down is required. If this work is not done soon, the tracks will become completely unusable — forcing thousands of drivers onto already congested roadways."

Previously: Task Force Declares Second Transbay Tube Necessary For Late-Night Transit