Gun violence
Last October, Oakland City Attorney John Russo proposed a gang injunction against 40 alleged members of the Nortenos gang in the Fruitvale neighborhood. This is Oakland’s second proposed gang injunction. It’s a controversial legal theory that says gang activity is a public nuisance that prevents non-gang members from enjoying peace in their communities.
Abel Manzo, one of the alleged gang members named in the Fruitvale gang injunction, was the only person to testify in the hearing on Wednesday. His lawyer, Jose Luis Fuentes, used his line of questioning to paint a picture of Manzo as a person who had some minor run-ins with the police but was never involved in gangs.
On Tuesday night, Oakland City Council’s public safety committee heard a report from the City Attorney’s Office about the effectiveness and cost of gang injunctions, but despite nearly three hours of heated public commentary, the committee decided not to take actions regarding the report on the proposed Fruitvale gang injunction.
A hearing Wednesday to determine whether to impose a preliminary injunction against 40 alleged members of the Norteño gang in Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood ended without a decision and will be resumed next week.
A judge said Thursday that he would allow members of a law firm where an Oakland city councilwoman is a partner to represent alleged gang members named in an injunction proposed for the Fruitvale area.
A group of 100 students, lawyers and community organizers rallied in front of Oakland City Hall Wednesday afternoon to demonstrate their opposition to the proposed Fruitvale gang injunction which would limit the activities of 40 alleged Norteño gang members.
Workers at the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse were robbed at gunpoint Tuesday evening when two men forced two of the store’s employees, who were in the process of closing for the day, to hand over money from the cash register as well their own wallets.
Nearly 100 people held candles and listened to speakers at a vigil in downtown Oakland for Arizona congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords, and the other victims of Saturday’s shooting. Congresswoman Barbara Lee told the crowd the vigil was for all the victims of Saturday’s shooting, “whether they had a title or not.”
As activists and residents lined up to make dozens of complaints Tuesday, city leaders promised to schedule a review of Oakland’s gang injunctions. About 60 of people showed up at the city’s public safety committee meeting, many with signs that read “Stop the injunctions now” in English and Spanish. “We are here to ask Oakland to re-prioritize its efforts,” said Aurra Lopez, who called the gang injunctions “ineffective and actually counter-productive.”