Police kill armed robbery suspect after car chase

Oakland police shot and killed a 24-year-old armed robbery suspect after a car chase Wednesday that ended in a crash near downtown, authorities said.

The shooting, the third involving city police to result in a fatality this year, prompted protesters to march through downtown Wednesday night, breaking windows and setting fires.

The name of the slain suspect wasn’t released. Police shot the man after he collided with a car and tried to carjack another vehicle, police said.

The man was shot by three officers when he “advanced towards the officers while holding a pistol in his hand,” said Chief Sean Whent. The 9mm semiautomatic handgun was loaded and had been reported stolen, the chief said.

The incident began about 2:40 p.m. when officers in the area of 69th Avenue and International Boulevard in East Oakland spotted a car connected to an armed robbery, authorities said.

The driver of the car sped off, leading police to the 27th Street off-ramp from Interstate 980, where he crashed into a motorist and tried to carjack a second vehicle, police said. The suspect then ran down 27th to Martin Luther King Jr. Way north of downtown and was pursued by officers.

“When the officers confronted the suspect, the suspect still had the firearm,” said police spokeswoman Officer Johnna Watson. She did not say whether the suspect had pointed or fired the gun at police.

The man died a short time later at a hospital.

The names of the officers were withheld. One is a sevenyear department veteran, another has six years, and the third has been on the force for a year, Whent said.

Oakland police are outfitted with body cameras, and “we do have body-worn camera footage of the event that we are reviewing,” Whent said.

The shooting is under investigation by police and the Alameda County district attorney’s office.

It was the third fatal shooting by Oakland police this year and the second in nine days.

On Aug. 3, police shot and killed sexual-assault suspect Antonio Clements, 49, on the 3800 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Officers said Clements had shot at them with an AK-47 rifle, wounding a sergeant.

In June, police shot and killed Demouria Hogg, 30, after he allegedly reached for a gun while sitting in a car on Lake Park and Lakeshore avenues near Lake Merritt.