Gun violence
Although tradition in some Oakland and other Bay Area African American communities calls for honoring the dead with burial funerals, cremation is gaining popularity as a simpler, less expensive alternative in financial hard times.
Seven people, including a 1-year-old child, were injured in a shooting on the 700 block of Willow Street in West Oakland Monday evening. The shooting, which happened at approximately 6:30 pm, injured five men, one woman and 1-year-old Hiram Lawrence, who is currently in critical condition.
Since Youth Alive launched its first violence prevention program 20 years, some of the crime and gun violence trends in Oakland have changed, but two things remain consistent: Young people make up a high percentage of Oakland’s homicide victims, and many are killed by someone using a firearm.
The Oakland Police Department released a bulletin Monday evening stating that eight people, including a 1-year-old child, had been injured in a shooting on the 700 block of Willow Street in West Oakland.
Oakland residents gathered outside St. Columba Catholic Church on Friday to honor the 102 people who have died because of violence in the past year.
At a Friday afternoon press conference outside the Interfaith Tent on Frank Ogawa Plaza, at the edge of the Occupy Oakland encampment, nine clergy members from around the East Bay made impassioned statements to media and passersby in defense of the camp following renewed calls to dismantle it in the wake of the fatal shooting nearby the night before.
Oakland Police Department spokesperson Johnna Watson released this statement at 5:30 pm: “On November 10, 2011 at 4:57 PM, the Oakland Police Department responded to the 1400 block of Broadway on a report of a shooting.
On Tuesday night, the Public Safety Committee heard a report by the Oakland Police Department on the efficacy of the North Oakland gang injunction, meant to provide more insight into the effects of injunctions before the city implements additional ones. It concluded that violent crime had risen in the gang injunction area, while other crimes were down.
In his first extended interview since his recent resignation as Oakland’s Chief of Police, Anthony Batts sits down with Oakland North to reflect on his success, his shortfalls, and what lies ahead for the Oakland Police Department.” I could have all the commitment in the world,” he says. “But if I didn’t have the tools to get the job done, it was a waste of time.”