A Ring doorbell video of a woman being accosted and robbed by an armed thief on her doorstep in the Eastmont Hills neighborhood of Oakland has been cause for fresh alarm for neighbors — and it's part of an apparent uptick in armed robberies around the Oakland hills.
The woman was returning to her apartment on Canyon Oaks Drive just after midnight on Monday when a suspect with a gun rushed up to her and cornered her in front of her door. The woman, while screaming, is pushed to the ground, and thief can be seen grabbing something from her, stepping away — perhaps made nervous by her screams — then stepping in again to snatch her belongings. A second suspect can be seen in the shadows behind him gesturing him away from the scene as the victim continued to make noise.
The video can be seen below — and just a warning, it is violent and the woman's screams are NSFW listening.
#Video: Woman robbed at gunpoint in front of her home on Canyon Oaks Dr. in Oakland Monday. @oaklandpoliceca is looking into the matter now. @ring doorbell camera captured imageshttps://t.co/efVmmcGo8G #crime #oakland #BayArea pic.twitter.com/uaJTMPfqdR
— André Senior (@andresenior) January 23, 2020
The video circulated this week on NextDoor, and about 60 neighbors assembled Wednesday night at a community meeting, as KTVU reports, to discuss the uptick in armed robberies.
"My little area has been really affected by the robberies that have happened," said neighbor Brian Cash. "People at gunpoint, being held up in their driveways, at their doorways, for cell phones, it's ridiculous and frightening."
Oakland Police Lt. Kevin Kaney, who attended the meeting, said that the "same group of people [is] responsible for most of these property crimes," and that the thieves were gang members who were supporting their lifestyles through robbery.
Oakland resident Derek Krause, who also lives near where the woman was robbed in the video, also brought up another recent video on NextDoor of a man being robbed at gunpoint while walking along Fairfax Avenue.
Kaney suggested that the OPD's crackdown on robberies in Oakland flatlands may have "pushed it, kind of relocated it," shifting the criminals to targeting residents in the hills neighborhoods. Kaney noted that one patrol beat in the hills had seen four armed robberies so far in January, while there were only 14 all year in 2019 in the same area.
Oakland City Councilmember Loren Taylor also attended the meeting, and said that all such incidents are highly personal and must be taken seriously. Taylor is planning a larger public meeting on the topic of safety on Saturday, February 8 from 10 a.m. to noon at Merritt College.
Seeing the video above online, Stacey Councilman, a woman who teaches other women self-defense and works with The Warrior Forged Project, tells CBS Sacramento that the victim in that case did everything right. She recommends that anyone who is in a situation where they are being robbed at gunpoint should hand over or drop all their belongings and scream as much as possible.