Police on alert for East Bay looters

Police and sheriff’s deputies throughout the East Bay were continuing their search Friday for suspects following two nights of looting by roving bands of heavily armed young adults at drugstores, shoe stores, electronics stores and marijuana facilities that left one suspect dead and three Oakland police and two security guards injured.

The groups of thieves were part of what interim Oakland Police Chief Susan Manheimer called a “roving caravan of robbers and looters” that has already resulted in 25 arrests.

“We are on to it and will stop this,” Manheimer said.

The latest round of looting on Wednesday night — which police believe is an attempt to capitalize on possible electionrelated unrest — targeted a Richmond shoe store, an Emeryville drugstore, a San Leandro convenience store and a San Lorenzo sporting goods store.

In Richmond, police arrived at the Exclusive Shoe store on McBryde Avenue and found eight to 10 people fleeing the store in several vehicles with boxes of $ 300 Yeezy sneakers and athletic wear, police said. A Contra Costa County sheriff’s deputy pursued one of the vehicles to San

Francisco, where a yetunidentified suspect was arrested and several shoes were recovered, police said.

In Emeryville, a band of looters stole pharmaceuticals from a CVS drugstore, fleeing in several cars when officers arrived. One armed, unidentified suspect was arrested and jailed on suspicion of robbery and illegal gun possession, police said.

In San Leandro, police said six people burst into a 7Eleven convenience store on Davis Street, stealing cash and cigarettes. Oakland police stopped their car and arrested six suspects, who were not identified, and seized three pistols and an assault rifle.

In San Lorenzo, dozens of looters broke into a Big 5 sporting goods store and stole ammunition and air guns, authorities said.

Extra deputies were scheduled to be on patrol Friday night to watch for additional looting, Alameda County sheriff’s Sgt. Ray Kelly said. He said there had been reports of additional packs of cars roaming Oakland on Thursday night, but no confirmed thefts.

On Tuesday night, bands of looters hit East Oakland marijuana dispensaries and production facilities and electronics stores. In one incident in the 1400 block of 92nd Avenue, three police officers were injured and an unidentified 20yearold suspect was shot and killed. The identity of the suspect was not being released by police on Friday, an Alameda County coroner’s deputy said.

In an incident at another marijuana facility, two unidentified security guards were shot and hospitalized with unknown injuries.

Kelly said the looters were “still out there and still a persistent problem.”

“These folks are rolling heavily armed with serious firepower,” he said. “We’ll be out tonight. This crowd is definitely on our radar.”

The looters, Kelly said, were attempting to exploit possible unrest over the presidential election in “much the same way” they exploited protest demonstrations in June during the social justice protests in downtown Oakland and elsewhere following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

“They plan on law enforcement’s attention being diverted to civil unrest, and they try to take advantage,” Kelly said.

Kelly said officers responding to fastmoving bands of looters frequently find themselves outnumbered, as they did at the San Lorenzo sporting goods store robbery.

“When there’s a group of up to 150 cars and individuals, they outnumber you and you have to be smart,” Kelly said. “When it comes to property crime versus life, we will not risk lives over stolen property.”

“These folks are rolling heavily armed with serious firepower.” Alameda County sheriff ’ s Sgt. Ray Kelly