Sunday, January 30, 2011

Oakland, CA: Oakland Police shoot, kill man in Rockridge

January 29, 2011 | 4:07 PM | By Ali Winston

An Oakland Police officer directs pedestrians away from the scene of an officer-involved shooting In Rockridge on January 29, 2011.
Oakland police shot and killed a disgruntled boyfriend in Rockridge Saturday morning after the man allegedly threatened his girlfriend and officers with a knife and a replica assault rifle. Around 9:35 AM, 911 dispatchers received frantic calls of a man dressed in camouflage and armed with a knife and a rifle in the 5500 block of Taft Avenue.

According to police, at one point the man stood outside his former girlfriend’s home and demanded she come outside. The man apparently threatened to shoot his girlfriend. Neighbors reported seeing the man jump a fence into the property when officers showed up on the scene. Her relatives ran outside, and officers could hear the woman inside screaming for help.


A neighbor who requested not to be identified said he and his family were lying on their kitchen floor after seeing officers approach the house with assault rifles. They were on the ground when they heard five to seven shots.

OPD claims the man was shot after he pointed what appeared to be an assault rifle at officers. It was later determined that the weapon was a replica gun. He was pronounced dead on the scene.

The identity of the dead man has not been released. The three officers involved in the shooting have not yet been identified by OPD. They have been placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure after an officer-involved shooting. The incident is being investigated by OPD’s Homicide and Internal Affairs units, as well as by the Alameda District Attorney.

Saturday morning’s shooting was the third officer-involved shooting in Oakland within a week. Last Saturday, 20-year-old Raheim Brown was shot and killed by an Oakland schools police officer outside Skyline High’s winter ball in the Oakland Hills: police say Brown tried to stab the officer with a screwdriver.

On Thursday, OPD officers shot and killed 19-year-old Martin Flenaugh after a drive-by shooting and high-speed chase that roiled East Oakland. Flenaugh reportedly had two guns in his hands when he was shot and killed by police.

None of the officers in this week’s shootings have been identified.

MATTHEW CICEKSKI

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