The intersection of 75th Avenue and Hawley Street in Oakland is in a graffitied industrial area flanked by apartments and recreational vehicles that double as homes. Piles of trash are heaped on the sidewalk — household and industrial waste, discarded toys, clothes, shopping carts, electrical gadgets, tires, furniture, and construction debris that rain has washed onto the road. Under the elevated BART tracks, more garbage. The area magnifies the illegal dumping problem that has been plaguing Oakland for years. Last…
Last week, a 15-year-old boy was shot at Skyline High School. The next day, Laney College athletic director and longtime Oakland football coach John Beam was killed in a targeted attack on campus. When Cynthia Davis, an 84-year-old Berkeley resident, heard this news, she decided it was time to turn in her late husband’s gun, fearing that if someone broke into her house, they might steal it and use it to hurt someone. “I was just devastated about what happened…
Oakland police arrested a suspect Friday morning in the “targeted” killing of Laney College athletic director and longtime Oakland football coach John Beam, who was shot on campus Thursday and died at Highland Hospital early Friday. At a news conference Friday, Assistant Police Chief Jim Beere said Alameda County sheriff’s deputies took Cedric Irving Jr., 27, into custody without incident around 3:15 a.m. at the San Leandro BART station. He is awaiting charges. Beere said Irving knew Beam but that…
A boy was shot at Skyline High School and two people were detained after gunfire erupted while students were in class Wednesday afternoon, police said. In a Facebook post, police said officers were called to the scene around 1:30 p.m. and arrived to find a male juvenile with a gunshot wound. They did not say if the wounded boy was a student at the school. Police said he was in stable condition after being taken by ambulance to a hospital….
Oakland Police Chief Floyd Mitchell resigned Wednesday morning, 18 months after being hired. In a statement on its website, the city said he will step down on Dec. 5. “It has been an honor to serve the Oakland community, and I am grateful for the support I’ve received from the residents,” Mitchell said in the statement. “I’m incredibly proud of the men and women of this Department and the collaborative working relationships forged with the community and business owners to reduce…