We heard a report earlier about two women found dead together in the early morning hours of Sunday in East Oakland, and they've now been identified as two teenage best friends: Bobbie Sartain, 16, of Oakland, and Raquel Gerstel, 15, of San Leandro.
They were both found shot, multiple times, on the 2600 block of Minna Avenue, near Brookdale Park around 6 a.m. Sunday. The incident has been described by nearby residents as "overkill," and was gruesome in its severity. A couple of neighbors came out to try to help the girls as they waited for ambulances to arrive, but both died at the scene. Bullet holes riddled cars and houses at the intersection of Brookdale and Minna, and Sartain was found on the north side of Minna with bullet wounds to her face and back. Gerstel was found crawling and clinging to life nearby.
As the Chron reports, Gerstel lied to her father Saturday and went to stay with her older friend, whom she'd met in childhood growing up in Alameda. The two had recently gotten into trouble for skipping school and smoking pot. Sartain lived with her mother and her mother's boyfriend, and had stormed out with Gerstel after an argument with her mother's boyfriend Saturday night, never to be heard from again.
It is unclear what the girls were doing out so late that night in that neighborhood, but news reports have alluded to the fact that the area of High Street near where the shooting took place was known for prostitution, and there has been an uptick in violence against prostitutes in Oakland this year.
Previously: With Five Weeks Left in the Year, Oakland Homicide Count Hits 115
