CLICK HERE if you’re viewing on a mobile device.
OAKLAND — Two men were killed and another man was wounded Wednesday afternoon in an East Oakland shooting, authorities said.
Police said the men killed were 19 and 21 and the man who survived is 18. Their names have not yet been released and police have not said if they were all friends or related to each other.
The shooting was reported about 12:47 p.m. Wednesday in the 1900 block of 84th Avenue in the city’s Webster neighborhood.
Officers responding found the three wounded men outside. The 19-year-old man died at the scene and the 21-year-old man later at a hospital; the third victim was in stable condition.
It was not immediately known if the people were shot by someone on the street or from a passing vehicle. Police were investigating reports of a suspect vehicle seen fleeing the scene.
Wednesday’s scene was not far from where an 18-year-old man was shot Tuesday night in the area of 85th Avenue and Dowling Street. Police have not said if they believe the two shootings are related.
No motive has been determined yet for the Wednesday shooting and no arrests have been made.
The killings brought to 82 the number of homicides investigated by Oakland police this year, of which 77 are classified as murders. For all of last year Oakland had 80 homicides of which 75 were classified as a murder, which is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse.
At the scene Wednesday, Oakland Deputy Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong decried the latest killings.
“These aren’t just numbers. These are people,” Armstrong said. “These are people from our community that have lost their lives to senseless violence. This is a community that’s dealing with trauma. This doesn’t end today.
“The community members that live in this block and in this area have to live with the tragic scene that they seen today of bullets flying in their community indiscriminately and putting everybody at risk. [I] feel terrible for the families of these victims.”
Armstrong drew a line from the shooting to previous recent shooting incidents as well, saying in part that “the violence in this community must stop. I hear people talking about guns.
“The Oakland Police Department has been working diligently to get the firearms off the streets, we’ve recovered 40 percent more firearms than we’ve recovered last year at this same time. But it’s more than just the firearms. It’s the individuals that are willing to pick up the firearms and use them in our community. They have to put the guns down.”
Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are offering up to $25,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrest of the shooter. Anyone with information may call police at 510-238-3821 or 510-238-7950 or Crime Stoppers at 510-777-8572.
Video editor Dylan Bouscher contributed to this report.
