Witness says double homicide began with the theft of a gun and challenge to an old-fashioned street fight

The 2020 triple shooting that left two dead and one injured here started, ironically, with a challenge to an old-fashioned street fight that was supposed to stop a brewing violent conflict from escalating, according to witness testimony at a recent hearing.

A man who was present for the Oct. 14, 2020, shooting that killed Jorge Martinez, 19, and Juan DiazOchoa, 21, testified in December that Martinez had stolen a gun belonging to a man named Billy Bob and that the two had arranged to fight to settle the dispute. But things quickly went haywire on 84th Avenue in East Oakland.

After Martinez dealt with Billy Bob in short order, the eyewitness claimed he volunteered himself as the next challenger, taking off his shirt and hat and jumping into the fray as a crowd of more than a dozen spectators readied their cellphones. He noticed his friend, Hasan Dbouk — whom he knew as “White Boy” — seemed agitated at the start of the fight, but didn't think anything of it, the man testified.

Then he heard gunshots, looked up and allegedly saw Dbouk holding a firearm. People scattered, and the two ended up leaving together in the same car they'd arrived in. Days later, police arrested the man and he told them a story that he repeated at the December preliminary hearing.

Dbouk, 28, faces charges of murdering both victims, attempting to murder the man who escaped with a gunshot wound to his leg and also with kidnapping in connection with a subsequent hostage situation that came eight days after the triple shooting. In an attempt to elude police, Dbouk allegedly ran into a shoe store on High Street in Oakland and took hostages, whom he released only after the cops provided him with cigarettes and a lighter.

Before surrendering, Dbouk allegedly expressed his remorse to one of the hostages, handing the man $200 in cash.

“He gave me money. He was like, `Oh, sorry for putting you in this situation,' ” the former hostage testified at the preliminary hearing.

At the hearing's end, Dbouk was held to answer on all counts except one — an assault with a deadly weapon charge that stemmed from the hostage situation. He remains jailed in Dublin without bail, and a trial date has not yet been set, court records show.

Dbouk has pleaded not guilty. His attorney argued that based on witness accounts, Dbouk had a legitimate claim of self-defense.