After an October 8 fatal shooting at a Berkeley dorm left 29-year-old Isamaeli Eli Mataafa dead and three of his relatives injured, Berkeley police have arrested and detained three suspects in the case.
We brought you the news earlier this month about an October 8 shooting outside UC Berkeley’s Unit 3 dorm complex on Durant Avenue near Telegraph Avenue, seen above, which left one person dead and a few others injured. We’ve since learned that that the victim who died was 29-year-old Samoan youth pastor Isamaeli Mataafa, who was attending seminary nearby, and that the three others injured in the shooting were his relatives, ages 22, 24, and 28. We haven’t learned much else since.
SCOOP: Police arrested two men and a woman on Tuesday evening in connection with a shooting near UC Berkeley earlier this month that killed one man and left three of his relatives wounded.https://t.co/oJmvp5Iyqw
— The Berkeley Scanner (@BerkeleyScanner) October 26, 2022
But late Wednesday afternoon, the Berkeley Scanner broke the news that Berkeley police have arrested three suspects in that homicide quadruple shooting. While the Berkeley PD has made no official announcements, the Berkeley Scanner reports that late Tuesday afternoon, police arrested 24-year-old Oakland man Andy Gutierrez-Rebollo on murder and attempted murder charges in this case. They separately arrested 23-year-old Union City man Michael Monrroy-Ramos at roughly the same time in connection with the case, and an hour later, arrested 31-year-old Union City woman Jessyca Monrroy as an accessory after the fact.
There is still no motive established in the case. But we do know that Mataafa and his three relatives were walking on Telegraph Avenue at about 1 a.m. the morning of October 8, and “an argument at Telegraph and Durant" escalated into the shooting, and Mataafa did not survive his gunshot wounds. None of the victims are UC Berkeley students.
Isamaeli Eli Mataafa is described by KTVU as having been “a Pacific School of Religion student” and “a mentor in the local Samoan community.” They add that he “attended Kanana Fou Theological Seminary in American Samoa before moving to the Bay Area.”
A song for Isamaeli “Eli” Mataafa by some of the youth he worked with as a pastor in the church. pic.twitter.com/0j3SdKH33z
— The Berkeley Scanner (@BerkeleyScanner) October 14, 2022
Per the Berkeley Scanner, “All three [suspects] are being held without bail and are scheduled for arraignment Friday at 9 a.m. at Wiley Manuel Courthouse in Oakland.”
Related: Shooting Outside UC Berkeley Dorms Leaves One Dead, Four Injured [SFist]
Image: Berkeley.edu
