1 killed and 5 wounded in Oakland shooting
OAKLAND— A 22-yearold man was killed and five others were wounded in a shooting in Oakland near the city’s Juneteenth celebration, though it wasn’t known whether the violence was connected with the event, police said.
The unidentified man was pronounced dead at a hospital after gunfire erupted Saturday evening near Lake Merritt, said Oakland Police Department Officer Johnna Watson.
The other five victims, males ages 16 to 27, and a woman in her 20s, were hospitalized in stable condition, she said Saturday night.
Investigators said they were trying to determine a motive for the shooting and identify suspects. Police said two men running from the scene with guns were arrested, but it was unclear if they were responsible for the shooting, the Bay Area News Group reported.
The shooting occurred shortly before 6:30 p.m. about a mile north of the Lake Merritt Amphitheater, where hundreds of people had gathered throughout the day to commemorate June 19, 1865.
That’s when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, two months after the Confederacy had surrendered.
Andrew Simpson was jogging near the lake when he heard gunshots.
“Out of the corner of my eye I saw a guy with a gun pointing at a car. Everyone started sprinting and screaming,” Simpson told the Bay Area News Group.
Witnesses said some people ran into the water when shots rang out.
“Tonight a joyous occasion at our Lake Merritt was marred by a senseless act of gun violence,” said Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf in a statement.
It wasn’t immediately known whether there was any connection between the shooting and the Juneteenth events.
BIG SUR — A wildfire that forced the evacuation of a campground and Buddhist retreat center has burned more than 3.2 square miles of dry brush in inaccessible terrain on California’s central coast, officials said Sunday.
There’s zero containment of the blaze in the Los Padres National Forest, about 15 miles southeast of Big Sur, the U.S. Forest Service said.
The fire broke out Thursday evening and burned east toward the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, a Buddhist monastery located in a remote valley. However, no buildings burned.
The center was evacuated along with the nearby Arroyo Seco Campground.
The steep, remote area meant that more than 450 firefighters had to hike in to battle the flames, officials said. They’re aided by water-dropping aircraft.
The cause of the fire is under investigation. The fire sent up a plume of smoke that drifted east Sunday toward the Salinas Valley.
VICTORVILLE — A Southern California sheriff’s deputy is under criminal investigation after he was recorded on video kicking a pursuit suspect in the head while the man appeared to be surrendering.
The San Bernardino County deputy, who was not named, has been placed on paid administrative leave, the Sun newspaper reported Saturday.
“This incident raises concerns. I expect my deputies to remain professional while engaging the public,” Sheriff John McMahon said in a statement.
The suspect was riding a motorcycle early Wednesday when he failed to pull over for a traffic stop and led the deputy on a highspeed chase on Interstate 15 and surface streets near Victorville, the newspaper said. He eventually ditched the motorcycle and hid at a car dealership.