Police say ‘several people’ fired guns during Lake Merritt Juneteenth event
OAKLAND >> Authorities said Monday that the mass shooting that killed one young man and disrupted a massive Juneteenth celebration around Lake Merritt on Saturday was carried out by “multiple shooters” and likely is connected to gangs based in San Francisco.
“The individuals responsible were multiple shooters, not just one. We’ve learned over the last couple days that several people fired weapons during this event,” Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong said at a news conference.
Authorities added another victim to the total Monday, saying seven people had been injured in addition to the one person killed. The man who was killed was a 22-year-old resident of San Francisco, Armstrong said, though his identity was not released publicly.
“We don’t believe that this was a random shooting,” Armstrong said. “We believe that this was directly related to group and gang violence … related to the city of San Francisco.”
Police have not yet definitively identified the people responsible for the shooting, which took place around 6:22 p.m. in the 2200 block of Lakeshore Avenue. Authorities are working with San Francisco police’s gang units to investigate the case, police officials said.
“There seems to be some group or gang feud going on, and it appears they may have met or encountered each other during the festivities at the lake,” Oakland police Lt. Leo Sanchez said.
“We have no evidence yet … that there’s any Oakland gang ties involved in this, in the actual shooting,” Sanchez said.
Two men who were seen running from the area while carrying firearms were arrested on the night of the shooting, but police said Monday they do not appear to be associated with the shooting. Oakland
Police Department spokeswoman Ofc. Johnna Watson did not immediately respond to a request for information about the status of those suspects.
Police officials said that they believed some, but not all, of those struck by gunfire were intended targets of the violence.
“I think some of the individuals that were shot and injured, to include the individual that unfortunately passed away, I believe were targeted individuals,” Sanchez said.
“There were individuals also that were just part of the festivities, part of the gathering, and were caught up in the crossfire,” he said.
Police said those wounded range in age from16 to their mid-60s. Four of them are males and three are females. Several of them were still hospitalized in stable condition as of Monday.
Police estimated Monday that there were roughly 10,000 people around Lake Merritt as a whole Saturday. Multiple events were being held, including at
Lake Merritt Amphitheater, where hundreds of people gathered throughout the day to commemorate June 19, 1865, when the last enslaved people in Texas finally learned that President Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation two years earlier.
Police said about 5,000 people were in the area of the shooting when it occurred.
Rev. Damita Davis-Howard, director of Oakland’s Ceasefire program, said the shooting was a “tragedy.” She added that it hit even harder that it occurred during such a historically and culturally significant date.
“We should have a safe space to celebrate culturally, everybody. No matter whether you’re celebrating Pride month, or Juneteenth, you want to feel safe in your community. The lake was that safe space,” Davis-Howard said Monday.
“This is something that is very, very real and deep felt to many African Americans who live here in Oakland, who live in California, who live across this nation … so to have gun violence interrupt that kind of life and living, is just unacceptable.
“I’m near tears to think that we could not successfully celebrate something that means so much to so many people,” she added.
Oakland has seen six mass shootings so far this year — defined as single incidents with four or more gunshot victims — the most of any California city, and already more than the four that occurred all of last year.
Shootings are increasing in Oakland this year, as well, consistent with many major cities that have seen spikes in crimes over the course of the pandemic. There have been about 330 shootings in Oakland causing injuries including death, an increase of about 77% compared with this time last year.
Though Armstrong noted there were upwards of 60 police officers around the Lake Merritt
area Saturday before the shooting, he said police can’t prevent people from using guns.
“The community has to come together to deter people from participating in this activity,” he said. “Oakland is not OK with that, this entire city is not OK with this level of violence.”
Todd Walker, a funeral attendant and Oakland community activist, said he didn’t doubt the chief’s sincerity, but felt there’s not enough focus on reducing gun violence in general, and getting guns off the street.
“There are shootings everyday,” he said. “They never talk about it, at least in the flatlands. This (shooting) was by Lake Merritt, that’s the reason this is so big now. You can hear 100 rounds being fired. Where the police at? If you can unload a 100-round clip before the police come and get away, it don’t make no sense.”