Police

Police make pot, weapons bust by Lake Merritt

Oakland Police announced today that they had discovered four adult marijuana plants, small bags of marijuana, and eleven firearms,  including assault weapons, at an apartment on Lakeshore Avenue. Oakland police officer Deandre Vantree arrived at the residence after OPD was alerted by a phone call reporting the sound of gunfire, police spokesman Jeff Thomason told reporters this afternoon. According to Thomason, a witness outside the apartment told police that gunfire broke a second-story window around 9:30 AM. Thomason said that after…

Slain student’s family had fled New Orleans’ danger

Desiree Davis, the 17 year-old Oakland Tech student killed in a drive-by shooting Monday, had been trapped with her family in Hurricane Katrina’s floodwaters before they sought safety and a new life in California. Her uncle says they tried Santa Cruz for a while, but that Oakland had felt to them more like home.

Neighbors mourn shooting death of Tech student

For nearly a decade, residents living near the intersection of Gaskill and 54th Streets in Northwest Oakland enjoyed a hard-won sense of calm. They’d formed a community police group, discouraged loitering and blatant drug dealing, and a diverse group of new homeowners was infusing money into this section of town, which runs along the Emeryville border. Even the owner of the neighborhood convenience store agreed to stop selling liquor in an effort to reduce crime. Yet on Tuesday, neighbors were…

Attorney Burris: ‘This case is stunning to me’

In an exclusive interview, Oakland attorney John Burris speaks about the recent events surrounding the Hassani Campbell case. Earlier this week the missing child’s foster parents, Jennifer Campbell and Louis Ross, were released after three days in police custody.

Child abduction cases by strangers are rare

Police said Friday that child abduction cases in some East Bay cities are “exceedingly rare.” “Ordinarily, they’re short-lived and have to do with some kind of custody battle,” said Sgt. Mary Kusmiss of the Berkeley Police. Abductions by strangers occur even more infrequently. “The harsh reality is, most abduction cases are by somebody [the child] knows,” said Anthony Gonzales of Child Quest International, a non-profit that deals with missing and exploited children in the Bay Area. The last time a…

Foster father of missing boy leaves home with police

The foster father of missing five-year-old Hasanni Campbell was questioned by police today and left his home in Fremont with officers, said a prominent Oakland attorney who has been consulting with the foster parents. Attorney John Burris could not confirm where the police and Louis Ross, the foster father, were going, but said that they were in a car, driving around the area.  The home is on the 5900 block of Roxie Terrace in North Fremont. The missing boy, who…