DA charges woman in connection with drive-by shootings

20-year-old Oakland suspect told police she wanted to hurt victim, 1-year-old baby

BERKELEY >> The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office charged a 20-yearold Oakland woman last week with seven felonies in connection with a trio of drive-by shootings late last year targeting a Berkeley woman and her 1-yearold child, authorities said.

The suspect, Sanai Wade, is scheduled to enter a plea to the charges Feb. 14. She is being held in lieu of $460,000 bail at Santa Rita Jail.

According to charging documents and police statements, Berkeley police responded to reports of the shootings Nov. 27,

Dec. 1 and Dec. 18, 2021, that damaged the Berkeley woman’s home and vehicle in the 2800 block of Acton Street. Both the woman and her child were home during each shooting.

Investigators were able to identify Wade as the suspect and obtain recordings of her conversations with an associate in custody at Santa Rita Jail on murder charges, a Berkeley police officer said.

In those conversations, each of which happened the morning after, the suspect “discussed getting revenge on the victim, checking for cameras and wanting to see the victim’s baby ‘stop breathing,’ ” the officer said.

After investigators found that Wade’s cellphone records placed her phone at each shooting’s scene, detectives obtained search warrants for her home and a warrant for her arrest. She was arrested last

Thursday at an East Oakland apartment with help from the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force, and a firearm was recovered at her home, police said.

According to police, the woman denied involvement after being read her rights, but later admitted to a role, adding that a personal dispute motivated her to seek to harm the woman and her child.

Last Friday, the District Attorney’s Office charged the woman, who had prior arrests on robbery and felony assault with a deadly weapon charges, with assault with a semi-automatic firearm, shooting at an inhabited dwelling, stalking, discharging a firearm with gross negligence and vandalism, as well as several criminal enhancements.