Around 8:15 p.m. Friday, Oakland police responded to a cul-de-sac near Lake Merritt that has been the scene of multiple violent incidents this year, and found a man suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
The 1400 block of Lakeshore Avenue has seen a lot of violence in 2021, as Bay Area News Group reports, including a fatal shooting on November 11 that took the life of a 22-year-old woman, Devani Aleman Sanchez. The block is a cul de sac lined by apartment buildings, and again on Christmas Eve, gunfire rang out there, and a 38-year-old man died from his injuries in the shooting. The victim has not yet been publicly identified.
No arrests have been made and police have not yet determined a possible motive in the shooting.
This same cul-de-sac near Lake Merritt was also the scene of a Juneteenth shooting that left six people injured and one dead.
In the latest incident, the victim was said to be shot in the middle of the street. Neighbor Michael Ziolkowski tells KPIX that the victim appeared to have been shot in the back.
"Several people around him trying to help him and whatever, telling him to lie down. He kept trying to get up every now and then," Ziolkowski told the station.
With just five days left in the year, Oakland has seen 134 homicides so far — up from the already alarmingly high 109 homicides investigated in the city in 2020. As the Chronicle notes, 123 of this year's shootings are considered criminal homicides, with the remaining 11 having been determined to be accidental, acts of self defense, or otherwise non-criminal.
This is the highest homicide count in Oakland in over a decade — already higher than 131 killings recorded in 2012, which was followed by nearly a decade of steady decline in violent crime.
The Friday shooting preceded what continued to be a violent holiday weekend in Oakland, including multiple robberies, carjackings, and shootings, as Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong told reporters. One incident was an officer-involved shooting on 98th Avenue, and as ABC 7 reports, Armstrong is planning to do a press conference Monday to discuss all the incidents of the weekend.
Anyone with information about the Friday night homicide on Lakeshore is asked contact the homicide section at (510) 238-3821 or the tip line at (510) 238-7950.
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