Crime
Carrying signs that read, “Execute Justice not People,” and hoisting a large peace sign embellished with yellow, pink, and white flowers, about 40 people gathered Friday at Frank Ogawa Plaza in downtown Oakland to protest the execution of Troy Davis in Georgia.
Mayor Jean Quan and Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts joined forces Thursday to respond publicly to a federal judge’s warnings about possible unjustified use of force of Oakland police officers.
The 31-year-old Oakland resident who died in Wednesday’s shooting on 52nd Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way was identified as Remilio Myers, Oakland police said Thursday.
Kindergarten and first grade students gathered in the auditorium of Horace Mann Elementary Wednesday afternoon cheered as Oakland Police officers handed teachers a special community policing accessory—four brown teddy bears, with blue bows tied around their necks.
A man was killed and another man was left in critical condition in a shooting on Wednesday morning on the 800 block of 52nd Street, two blocks down from Children’s Hospital.
Qadir Bilal strode confidently to the witness stand, in his colorful bow tie and crisp black shirt and trousers. He paused. He fixed his gaze on the person before him, a young woman who had been caught in possession of marijuana – and who, like 16-year-old Qadir, is in high school.
About 600 people marched from Allen Temple Baptist Church in East Oakland to City Hall to protest crime and violence in Oakland on Saturday. Soldiers Against Violence Everywhere, a community and church coalition, organized the march and rally as a response to the 75 homicides reported in the city from January to August, 2011.
During a tense meeting near Oakland’s downtown last week, residents of the 23rd Street and Telegraph area voiced their concerns over recent violence at the Para Diso Lounge. On the community meeting agenda was a shooting on Saturday, August 27, which left the neighborhood shaken and two cars riddled with bullets. But previous incidents related to the club added to residents’ concerns over the Para Diso’s place in their neighborhood.
Four teenagers have been arrested for the May 20 murder of Fruitvale gardener Antonio Torres, Oakland police said Tuesday. Police said the young men, ages 15-19, targeted Torres for his gold chain and his iPod, and that they are also suspects in other burglaries.