OAKLAND — Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson’s office formally asked a judge this week to dismiss the manslaughter case against the former San Leandro police officer accused of fatally shooting Steven Taylor during an April 2020 shoplifting call.
The request by Jones Dickson’s administration — which is expected to be argued at a hearing Friday morning — marks yet another twist in the case against Jason Fletcher, who was charged with manslaughter months after the killing but has yet to face trial amid a rotating cast of district attorneys. His case has since become a rallying cry by advocates pushing for greater accountability among law enforcement officers who use deadly force.
If granted, the dismissal would represent an abrupt end to the first police officer charged in an on-duty killing in Alameda County since BART Officer Johannes Mehserle was tried — and convicted — in the fatal shooting of Oscar Grant more than 15 years ago. Mehserle was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in July 2010, by a Los Angeles County jury after the case was moved south.
In a motion filed Tuesday, the district attorney’s office argued that Fletcher’s case “cannot be proved beyond a reasonable doubt,” nor that it’s entirely clear that Fletcher didn’t act out of self defense or the right to defend others inside the San Leandro Walmart where the shooting happened.
Taylor was fatally shot on April 18, 2020, while allegedly trying to steal an aluminum baseball bat and a tent from the Walmart. Only about 40 seconds passed between the time Fletcher encountered Taylor, 33, and when the fatal shot was fired, according to a lawsuit against the city of San Leandro by the slain man’s family.
Alameda County prosecutors had previously argued that Fletcher did not try to de-escalate the confrontation before fatally shooting Taylor once in the chest after using a Taser on him multiple times. A judge later called the case “a battle of the experts,” given the vast amount of testimony at an evidentiary hearing from police use-of-force experts.
Those experts became the subject of a recent bid by Fletcher’s attorneys — largely backed by the work of Jones Dickson’s own team — to dismiss the case on the grounds of “outrageous government conduct.” The officer’s attorneys argued that previous prosecutors in the case — each overseen by former District Attorney Pamela Price — acted unethically while seeking experts to testify on the prosecution’s behalf.
In ruling from the bench last month, Alameda County Judge Thomas Reardon said he found no evidence that those former prosecutors tainted the case by allegedly hiding evidence from defense attorneys.
The district attorney’s dismissal motion this week again took direct aim at Price’s administration, claiming that her strategy was nothing more than “a desperate de-evolution into violations of both ethics and the law around these experts.”
“The effort made to conceal expert opinions from the defense in violation of Supreme Court case law that requires transparency of this type of evidence only created more hurdles to the prosecution of Fletcher,” the motion added.
The motion appears to have been authored by Darby Williams, a relative newcomer to Jones Dickson’s staff who previously spent time as a prosecutor in San Francisco and Santa Clara counties, as well as a public defender in Los Angeles, according to her LinkedIn account. The site shows her having joined the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office in July.
The request by Jones Dickson’s team continues a trend by the former Alameda County prosecutor and judge, who has worked to unwind the legacy of Price, who voters recalled last year. That includes dismissing numerous cases filed by Price’s administration, including several against law enforcement officers related to the deaths of inmates at Santa Rita Jail.
Price has since announced a campaign to once again seek election as the county’s district attorney, roughly a year after voters removed her from office by a nearly 2-to-1 margin. So far, Price and Jones Dickson are the only people known to be vying for the post.
The wave of dismissals had led to fears by Taylor’s family that Fletcher’s case could be next.
Reached Wednesday morning, Taylor’s grandmother, Addie Kitchen, slammed the decision.
“I’m shocked,” said Kitchen, noting how the request to end the case came not from Fletcher’s attorneys, but from Jones Dickson’s office. “How do you think it feels? Five and a half years — the biggest slap in the face by the district attorney.”
Check back for updates to this developing story.
Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com.
The former employee of a San Mateo assisted living facility who left a pitcher of toxic cleaning fluid in the kitchen that another employee mistook for juice and served to residents — resulting in the deaths of two 93-year-olds — was sentenced Friday to 40 days in county jail and two years supervised probation.
Alisia Rivera Mendoza, 38, was also ordered to complete 350 hours of community service, including speaking to those working in the care industry to warn them against her mistake, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office.
In August, Rivera Mendoza pleaded no contest to one felony count of elder abuse in exchange for no time in state prison and a maximum sentence of one year in county jail, prosecutors said. Rivera Mendoza’s sentence can also be reduced to a misdemeanor after one year of complying with probation.
Rivera Mendoza’s sentence was imposed by San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Michael Wendler, who also denied a defense motion that would have immediately reduced the charge to a misdemeanor.
San Mateo County District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe said Monday that Wendler’s sentence was “thoughtful,” as Rivera Mendoza does not have a prior criminal record and the mistake was not intentional.
“Forty days on its face does sound low, but what Judge Wendler has done is taken what might have been a longer jail sentence and converted that into public service hours — that 350 hours of public service work is what he felt was more appropriate for punishment, because 350 hours is a substantial number of days,” Wagstaffe said. “I am not dissatisfied with the sentence.”
Wagstaffe added that Rivera Mendoza has shown remorse for the incident.
Rivera Mendoza’s defense attorney, Josh Bentley, did not respond to a request for comment Monday.
Rivera Mendoza is also not permitted to work in assisted living or elder care in the future, must pay $370 in fines and fees and will pay restitution in an amount to be determined. She also cannot possess ammunition, weapons or body armor and is subject to search and seizure.
Atria Park of San Mateo was understaffed on the morning of Aug. 28, 2022 when Rivera Mendoza poured cleaning fluid into a pitcher on the kitchen counter with the intention of using it to clean the kitchen, prosecutors said.
When Rivera Mendoza went to serve breakfast to the facility’s residents, she left the pitcher on the counter. Another employee mistook the pitcher of cleaning fluid for juice and poured it into three residents’ glasses, prosecutors said.
The three residents, thinking the liquid poured into their glasses was juice, drank it, prosecutors added.
The three residents – 93-year-old Gertrude Maxwell, 93-year-old Peter Schroder Jr. and Richard Fong – “immediately went into serious distress” after taking just a few sips of the liquid, prosecutors said. Emergency services reported to the scene to provide aid, but Maxwell and Schroeder died due to ingestion of the toxic cleaning fluid.
Both Maxwell and Schroder suffered from extremely painful blisters on their mouths before they died, their families said. Fong survived drinking the fluid, prosecutors added.
Wagstaffe added that the families of the two victims did not have “heavy animus toward” Rivera Mendoza.
“They were more concerned about Atria and the fact that they were understaffed,” Wagstaffe said, adding that there was insufficient evident to prosecute Atria in this case.
Kathryn Stebner, the attorney who represented the Schroder family, said that Rivera Mendoza’s sentence is sad to both her and the Schroder family. The family’s wrongful death lawsuit was settled in early 2025, she added.
“She’s basically a scapegoat in the face of (Atria’s) continuous wrongdoing. To point the finger at her is just not right,” Stebner said. “The real culprits were the corporation, not this poor woman who was overworked, underpaid and the scapegoat of Atria.”
“We took immediate action in response to this incident, including reviewing and reinforcing our training and policies on chemical safety,” the statement said. “As always, we remain focused on the safety, health, and well-being of all our residents.”
Rivera Mendoza is currently out of custody on supervised own recognizance. She will surrender to jail on Feb. 7.
SACRAMENTO — California Attorney General Rob Bonta spent $468,000 of his campaign cash on lawyers while reportedly being interviewed by federal authorities investigating Oakland’s former mayor and others in a sprawling federal bribery and corruption inquiry.
The longtime East Bay politician’s senior adviser, Dan Newman, told this news organization Wednesday that Bonta’s legal bills were for the sole purpose of “providing information that could be helpful to the investigation of those implicated” in the ongoing criminal probe.
Bonta — who lives in Alameda and has worked his way from city councilman to the state’s top prosecutor — was never a target of the investigation, Newman said.
“The AG’s involvement is over,” Newman added. “But this is an ongoing legal proceeding that we don’t want to hinder — with no relation to or involvement of the AG — so unable to provide further information.” He said the work required of those attorneys ended in 2024, the adviser said.
Newman initially told the KCRA this week that the attorney general used the campaign funds “to help his law enforcement partners pursue justice” in the East Bay corruption probe. The Sacramento station was the first to report Bonta’s legal spending.
Newman later changed that stance, claiming in a subsequent interview with KCRA that Bonta spent the money on attorneys for himself while being questioned by federal investigators. The adviser stressed Bonta was never a target of the investigation, and the funds were needed “because of the nature of the charges against the people implicated,” the station reported.
The size of Bonta’s legal bills appear historically large, and they reflect the fact that Bonta retained one of the premier law firms in Silicon Valley — Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati — which routinely charges four figures an hour for its work, said David McCuan, a Sonoma State University political science professor. That also highlights the stakes Bonta faces as a politically ambitious state attorney general, particularly one who has taken a leading stand against the current White House administration by filing dozens of lawsuits against it, the professor said.
“His problems are the appearance of impropriety when he is the poster child against Donald Trump and the administration,” McCuan said. “So if he has an image problem that is created by this expenditure, then that is a problem for him.”
McCuan added that California campaign finance law is considered “murky” when it comes to when candidates can use campaign cash for legal help.
In general, campaign funding can only be used “if the litigation is directly related to activities of the committee that are consistent with its primary objectives,” said Shery Yang, a spokesperson for the Fair Political Practices Commission, in an email. While she said she couldn’t speak specifically to this case, instances where that money can be used include defending against claims that a candidate violated election laws, or ensuring compliance with state campaign disclosure reports.
The five payments to Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati were made two days before Bonta announced he would not run for governor and seek reelection as attorney general in February, the records show.
It all casts a fresh spotlight on Bonta’s ties to many of the main players charged in the ongoing bribery and pay-to-play probe that has roiled the East Bay’s political scene, including former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and Andy Duong, who helps run a recycling company contracted by the city of Oakland.
In charges unsealed in January, federal prosecutors accused former Thao of accepting bribes from Andy Duong and his father, David, in the form of political favors and a $95,000 no-show job for Thao’s romantic partner, Andre Jones. In return, prosecutors claimed Thao promised to secure lucrative city contracts for a fledgling housing company co-founded by David Duong, as well as for Duongs recycling business, California Waste Solutions.
Thao, Jones and David and Andy Duong have all pleaded not guilty and could face trial by next year.
Bonta has known Andy Duong for years, even becoming a frequent presence on his Instagram page before federal agents raided the businessman’s house in June 2024.
In an August 2021 social media post, Bonta was seen standing alongside Andy Duong and the famed Filipino boxer and retired politician Manny Pacquiao, each of them giving a “thumbs up” to the camera. In another, Bonta appeared to be sitting in a limousine, smiling at the camera with one arm around Andy Duong and another around his wife, California Assemblymember Mia Bonta.
“Cannot wait to see what else the future has to offer to you,” wrote Andy Duong, calling the state’s top prosecutor a “brother” while recounting his rise from “Vice Mayor to State Assembly and now CA Attorney General.” The post included no less than nine other photos of the two together over the years, often at campaign events or, in one instance, together at a Golden State Warriors game.
Rob Bonta has since sought to distance himself from the Duongs. Shortly after the FBI and other federal authorities raided the family’s Oakland hills houses on June 20, 2024, Bonta said he planned to give back $155,000 in political contributions that he had previously received from the Duong family.
The political fortunes of Thao and Mia Bonta also nearly collided several years ago. Before running for mayor, Thao briefly considered campaigning for the state assembly seat once held by Rob Bonta before he became the state’s attorney general. Instead, Thao opted to run for the mayor of Oakland, while Mia Bonta ran and filled her husband’s post in Sacramento.
Bonta ties to people investigated in the corruption probe extend to an unnamed co-conspirator widely believed to be longtime Oakland political operative Mario Juarez. Bonta and Juarez enjoyed “close financial and political ties,” such as when Bonta helped secure a $3.4 million grant in 2017 from the California Energy Commission for a company that Juarez co-owned, according to a filing late last year by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office.
“They have publicly endorsed each other and have used the same office for their business dealings,” said the filing, adding that Juarez and the Bontas’ “extensive intertwined political and business dealings are widely known.”
Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com.
OAKLAND — Two men have agreed to serve 12-year prison terms for beating another man to death at a park in a broad daylight attack, court records show.
Melvin Espinolobo, 24, and Alexander Garciaamaya, 29, both pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter in the May 10, 2020 killing of 28-year-old Jose Mejia-Lemus. They remain at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin with the expectation of being formally sentenced in December.
The attack was witnessed by passers-by and others at the Josie de la Cruz Park at 1637 Fruitvale Ave. Authorities say a little after 3 p.m., one of the two suspects argued with Mejia-Lemus, then retrieved two bats from a nearby homeless encampment where they lived. One of the suspects was seen with a machete, according to police testimony.
An eyewitness testified at the 2022 preliminary hearing that Mejia-Lemus pleaded “leave me alone” as he was being killed, but that both men continued to hit him.
“The worst thing was when he was already down on the ground they just kept beating him,” the man testified. Another witness testified that Mejia-Lemus claimed to have a knife, but others said he was unarmed, according to court records.
The two men were arrested and charged shortly after the homicide and their case has been pending ever since. As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors are dropping murder charges against both men, court records show.
MORGAN HILL — A dozen illicit massage parlors were shuttered in Morgan Hill for allegedly providing sexual services, authorities said Thursday.
The 12 businesses were shut down by police during an 18-month operation, according to the Morgan Hill Police Department. The parlors either had their permits revoked or were denied permits after the city changed its municipal code to tighten requirements.
Some of the businesses were found to be advertising sexual services online or caught by investigators providing sex, authorities said. Others had contraception in the rooms, lied in the permit application process or were otherwise generally promoted as a place for illegal sexual activity. Police found that the alleged sexual activity occurred both after-hours and during regular business hours.
The businesses that were shut down include A&M Health Center, Angel Beauty Spa, Body Care Foot Spa, Body Care Massage, Elegant Foot Spa, Flower Day Spa, Laura Health Center, Lucky Spa, Morgan Hill Spa, New Times Massage, September Day Spa and TWNS Spa.
Police also made multiple arrests of people on suspicion off pimping, pandering, supervising prostitution activities and soliciting prostitution, authorities said.
In 2023, Morgan Hill saw an “unprecedented” increase in applications for massage business permits after similar businesses were closed across the Bay Area, officials said. The city partnered with reputable massages businesses, law enforcement, the California Massage Therapy Council and the Santa Clara County Illicit Massage Business Coalition to update the city’s municipal codes to “balance the needs of legitimate businesses with the safety of our community.”
Administrative Sgt. Christopher Woodrow said in a press release that the process of investigating illicit massage businesses is “time consuming” and “often frustrating.”
“We took a multidisciplinary approach which included developing profiles from permit applications, communicating with other agencies and working on tips from community members,” Woodrow said. “Resources were often declined and there were no victims of human trafficking willing to provide testimony against their suspected traffickers which meant our team had to work even harder to ensure our decisions were not overturned on appeal.”
Capt. Mario Ramirez said in the press release that some of the shuttered businesses left the city after their licenses were revoked, but others hired attorneys to appeal the decision.
“The hard work and dedication of our team ultimately prevailed in all instances where suspected sexual activity was occurring,” Ramirez added.
Santa Clara County is one of three counties with the highest number of illicit massage businesses in the country, alongside Los Angeles County and Orange County, authorities added. The Human Trafficking Institute has found that California is the home of more than a quarter of the estimated 10,000 illicit massage parlors operating across the United States.
“When you visit a licensed massage therapist, you’re entering a professional healthcare environment. We follow strict codes of ethics, maintain state licensure, and uphold the same professional boundaries you’d expect in any other healthcare setting,” Sarah Ellingson, owner of Rooted Republic, said in the press release. “By supporting legitimate, licensed massage therapists, our community helps protect the integrity of the profession and ensures that therapeutic touch remains a safe, respected, and valuable form of care.”
MARTINEZ — Contra Costa’s police chiefs’ association has quietly done away with a protocol that mandated a public hearing before a jury for all police killings and in-custody deaths, drastically scaling back public oversight that has existed for nearly a half-century.
A two-page amendment posted to a county website at the start of 2025 says that coroner’s inquest hearings — which for decades have been done for virtually all law enforcement-involved death — will now only occur if certain officials request them. The amendment attributes this change to “advancements in transparency,” implying that the digital age now makes such hearings obsolete.
The change was made by the county’s police chiefs’ association, which also includes the county Sheriff’s office, Probation Department, and District Attorney, a DA spokesman told this news organization. It was the same organization that, in 1984, implemented the inquest policy to ensure all police-related fatalities would receive a “highly credible and impartial” investigation that would “inform the public” and “address the emotional needs of those involved” about what happened, the now-defunct protocol stated.
The final inquest was held in October 2024. It dealt with the 2023 police chase near Crockett that killed Giovanni Gomez, a 15-year-old Vallejo boy, during a chase with the California Highway Patrol. It was ruled an accident and officers testified the stolen car Gomez was driving sped away after they terminated the pursuit.
The amendment cites the proliferation of video evidence that can supplant witness testimony, “including body-worn camera footage from involved officers, bystander mobile phone recordings, and surveillance video from surrounding locations,” and cites recent state transparency laws that allow more public access to such footage. But the laws come with exemptions that are often cited by police departments to delay disclosures for years. This week, the Vallejo Sun news site sued the Vallejo Police Department for the release of records of a police shooting that authorities claim falls under one exemption.
Matthew Guichard, a defense attorney and former prosecutor who served as the presiding officer for the most recent inquest, said he was never informed of the change and didn’t learn of the amendment until a reporter showed him. He said that in addition to the transparency inquests provided, there was another consequence some may be overlooking.
“I will say I believe as a result of the inquests, many fewer lawsuits are filed. I cite that as I reviewed all the inquests I had done and a few more right around 2015,” Guichard wrote in an email. “If memory serves of the 59 I reviewed, there were only nine lawsuits resulting from the subject deaths. In most cases, the inquest was the first time the family and the public heard what happened.”
The inquest jurors were asked simply to pick a manner of death from one of four options — accident, suicide, homicide, or natural causes. The decision carried no criminal nor civil liability. The involved officers and the medical examiner were typically called as witnesses, along with DA inspectors who investigated the incident. While no blame was assigned, the hearings were open to the public and often gave interested parties, including family members of the person killed, their first opportunity for answers.
Inquests will now be be held “at the discretion of the coroner, or if request by the Attorney General, the DA, sheriff, prosecutor, city attorney, or a chief of police,” the amendment says.
For Taun Hall, whose son, Miles Hall, was shot and killed by Walnut Creek police while experiencing a mental health episode in 2019, the inquest was an “awful process” that felt “very old fashioned and unnecessary.” Taun Hall said in an interview that when she received notice in the mail informing her about the upcoming inquest, she didn’t want to “relive the trauma” by attending, but felt obligated because she knew details would be made public either way.
When she attended, she felt the officers’ testimony represented “one side of the story” with no balance.
“It’s very traumatic, especially in my situation where someone was killed by police and he was a victim. And it’s only their version of what happened,” Hall said. But she added that she still saw one benefit.
“Everything that they say is on record and they’re under oath. It can actually be beneficial in cases because now attorneys can use it in depositions,” said Hall, whose family received a $4 million lawsuit settlement from the city of Walnut Creek.
The policy change came on the heels of a calendar year, 2024, that saw fewer police-related deaths than any year since 2011, when the DA’s office started recording the data. The two law enforcement-involved deaths last year were a suicide in the Martinez jail and the fatal police chase of Gomez in West Contra Costa. But 2025 has been a different story.
This year, seven people have been killed by police or died in police custody, including four police shootings, two police chases that resulted in a crash and the recent death of a 72-year-old woman in Brentwood that has been embroiled in controversy. On Sept. 26, Brentwood officers were arresting Yolanda Ramirez on suspicion of a misdemeanor when she went unresponsive in the back of a police car and died a week in the hospital. A legal claim filed by her family on Monday alleges an officer knocked her head into the police car on the way in.
Brentwood police didn’t inform the public of Ramirez’s death until after the media publicized it, stating that Ramirez appeared to have a medical episode after being placed in the car and that police “immediately” called paramedics. An attorney retained by her family said she was shocked when police told her an inquest wouldn’t be held.
For Richmond police union president Benjamin Theriault, the lack of inquests will erase a chance to give families and the public “a clear and consistent accounting of what happened.”
“When you remove that, you risk leaving families with unanswered questions and opening the door to speculation, more lawsuits, not fewer,” Theriault said. “Any change to a process this important needs to be handled with real care and consistency, because trust is hard to earn and very easy to lose.”
A statement, issued by the Brentwood police department on Tuesday, comes a day after several media outlets publicized the Oct. 3 death of 72-year-old Yolanda Ramirez, whose family has alleged was injured when an officer knocked her head into a patrol vehicle while arresting her on suspicion of a misdemeanor a week before she died. The statement says police immediately called for medical backup when an officer noticed Ramirez “appeared to be having a medical issue” in the back of the car, and that “our thoughts remain with the Ramirez family during this difficult time.”
“While we cannot comment further on an active investigation or pending claim, we want to assure the public that the Brentwood Police Department is committed to treating all individuals with dignity and respect in every call they respond to, and to following established procedures designed to ensure transparency and accountability,” the statement says, referencing a legal claim — a precursor to a lawsuit — filed Monday by Ramirez’s family.
The legal claim alleges that the department left out key details surrounding Ramirez’s Sept. 26 arrest and Oct. 3 death, and that the family’s attorney hired a private investigator who interviewed eyewitnesses. Police say Ramirez “was placed under a citizen’s arrest at the request of a family member” during a “family dispute” and that the “approximately 70” year-old woman “attempted to flee the scene.”
The legal claim says police were called because someone saw Ramirez yelling into the window of her brother’s home on the 100 block of Broderick Drive in Brentwood, because he failed to answer the door when she arrived to take him to a doctor’s appointment.
Ramirez was hospitalized the day of her arrest. Her death has prompted the Contra Costa District Attorney’s office to launch its own probe, which is done for all law enforcement-related deaths across Contra Costa, whether or not police caused the death. One law enforcement source said that the DA’s office was told Ramirez suffered a stroke and was being arrested on suspicion of disturbing the peace.
Brentwood police didn’t inform the public about Ramirez’s death, or publicly acknowledge it until after this news organization reported it. Police are not legally required to announce such incidents, but the omission is abnormal for Contra Costa, where all police-related deaths are subject to third-party investigations as a matter of protocol.
Six prior police-related deaths this year were all announced by the involved departments in Contra Costa. As a whole, no police agency in the county has failed to publicly announce a law enforcement-involved death since the 2020 death of Angelo Quinto in Antioch, an incident that ultimately cost the city a $7.5 million lawsuit settlement.
A Sonoma County judge allowed Asia Lozano Morton to await trial outside jail under strict supervision and set her next court date for Dec. 4, according to court records.
Morton must wear a GPS ankle monitor, surrender her passport and get permission from the court before leaving California. She’s also barred from owning guns or using drugs and from contacting her boyfriend, Richard Lund.
Tuesday’s hearing was Morton’s first court appearance since her arrest Friday in the Oct. 3 shooting death of Mark Calcagni.
Lund, 43, remains in custody without bail. Police say he’s accused of shooting Calcagni five times near Calcagni’s home on Brookwood Avenue before driving off in a Toyota RAV4.
Investigators believe the killing was planned and may be connected to Calcagni’s decision to fire Lund and Morton from their jobs at the Condor Club, a North Beach landmark known as the nation’s first topless bar.
Police arrested Lund at his home in Dublin. Morton was taken into custody at San Francisco International Airport when she returned from a trip to Spain.
Police said Calcagni had returned home from work around 5 a.m. when he was shot. A passerby found his body on a nearby sidewalk about 90 minutes later.
UNION CITY — A group of would-be home invasion robbers was thwarted when a girl saw them and had her family call police, authorities announced Sunday.
The incident occurred Friday around 7:45 a.m., in the 30900 block of Tidewater Drive. When the girl saw “several armed suspects” outside her home, she warned family members, who called 911 and scared the suspects off, police said in a news release.
Police describe the crew as “four males” with masks and hoodies, and say at least two had pistols. They were seen driving away in a white Ford Taurus.
The incident doesn’t appear to be related to the attempted kidnapping of an 11-year-old girl earlier this week, authorities said.
Anyone with information can contact Union City police Det. Michael Bedford at 510-675-5266 or michaelb@unioncity.org.
HAYWARD — A resident was arrested and charged with drug and gun possession after a police officer noticed a video on the suspect’s Instagram account of a man shooting a gun in the air.
The 29-year-old Hayward resident was charged with three counts of alleged drug dealing and four counts of possessing a machine gun. He was released from jail on the condition that he not possess weapons and obey all laws, according to court records.
Police began investigating the man in mid-September, when an officer noticed a video on an Instagram story of a man firing a gun in the air. The gun appeared to be a Glock pistol, modified to shoot fully automatic, authorities said. When police identified the man as the Instagram account holder, they raided his home on Veronica Avenue.
Authorities say that during the raid, police seized more than 800 Xanax pills, more than an ounce of cocaine, about four grams of MDMA, a 3D printer and equipment used to make pistols fully automatic. The man reportedly told police that modifying pistols was “fun,” and he didn’t know it was against the law.
OAKLAND — Police here seized thousands of packs of cigarettes and more than $200,000 in suspected illegal proceeds during the raid of a local residence earlier this month.
On Oct. 10, police raided a home on the 3100 block of Minna Avenue in Oakland, after identifying as the suspected base of operations for an illegal cigarette business that was operating at Wilma Chan Park. All told, police seized more than $202,000 and 15,000 cigarette packets, most of which were imported from Germany and China, and are believed to have a higher level of nicotine than typical American cigarettes, authorities said.
The raid came after an anonymous tipster mailed letters to police, stating they saw suspicious activity at Wilma Chan Park. A plainclothes Oakland police surveillance team observed suspected illicit cigarette transactions at the park, and traced the sellers back to the Minna Avenue home, authorities said.
The suspects weren’t licensed to sell tobacco and the cigarettes were untaxed, according to police.
OAKLAND — Retired NFL star Doug Martin spent his final moments alive Saturday morning wandering in the dark through the backyards and banging on the front doors of his neighbors’ houses in the Oakland hills, sources told the Bay Area News Group.
Martin’s subsequent death — after what police described as a “brief struggle” with officers inside one of those homes — sent shockwaves through the city, stunning those who recalled the former All-Pro running back’s quick burst on the football turf and easygoing temperament off of it.
Two days later, questions mounted about the Oakland Police Department’s actions before dawn Saturday, along with the factors that appeared to lead Martin inside his neighbor’s home and the exact circumstances around his death in police custody.
“It’s tragic, it’s really tragic,” said his neighbor, Lynne Belmont, 74.
Multiple people called 911 around 4:15 a.m. Saturday, as Martin went door-to-door on the 11000 block of Ettrick Street, sources said. He had been staying in a longtime family home on that block, which sits atop an Oakland hills neighborhood near the Oakland Zoo.
Police initially received a call about a person breaking into a home on that street, which a source said had been occupied at the time. They “simultaneously” received notice that a person believed to be a burglar was having “a medical emergency,” according to a statement released Sunday by the Oakland Police Department.
A “brief struggle” ensued when officers contacted the suspected burglar inside a house and tried to detain him, police said. Martin then became unresponsive after being taken into custody, according to Oakland police.
Oakland police did not respond to multiple requests by this news organization for further details. City and police officials have yet to release police radio and dispatch recordings from the encounter, which were recently encrypted and shielded from the public’s ear.
The police department also has yet to announce how many officers have been placed on paid administrative leave, as is customary following an in-custody death.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Doug Martin (22) runs during the second half of an NFL football game against the New York Jets, in Tampa, Fla. Two-time Pro Bowl running back Doug Martin has been released by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2018, who may look for a replacement in free agency.(AP Photo/Jason Behnken, File)
In a statement issued Monday evening, Martin’s family said his parents “were actively seeking medical assistance for him and had contacted local authorities for support” before his encounter with police. They added that Martin “battled mental health challenges that profoundly impacted his personal and professional life,” and that he fled his home that night after “feeling overwhelmed and disoriented.”
“Ultimately, mental illness proved to be the one opponent from which Doug could not run,” said the family’s statement, which was released by Athletes First. The firm represented Martin when he was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2012.”
On Monday, Mayor Barbara Lee issued a statement mourning Martin’s death and noting she had reached out to Martin’s family. Lee hailed him as “an Oaklander who had a distinguished NFL career,” adding that “our condolences are with his family and loved ones.” The family has requested privacy.
Martin did not seem much involved in Oakland’s professional sports community, a tight-knit social circle that includes former big-league athletes and coaches. Several long-timers contacted for this story had not been aware that Martin had even resided in Oakland.
On his journey from high school stardom in Stockton to NFL fame, however, Martin was as memorable a running back as the coaches who crossed paths with him could remember.
“He was the kind of guy who really just absorbed everything you tried to teach him,” said Earnest Byner, a former NFL all-pro who was Martin’s running back coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. “He could do anything you asked him to do.”
It was the kind of inner confidence that made the relatively undersized, 5-foot 9-inch tall player — nicknamed “Muscle Hamster” — eager to take on more physically taxing assignments, such as blocking heftier linebackers.
But Martin truly shone with the ball in his hand, coaches said, zipping downfield with a springy first step. A decorated college career at Boise State — where he logged 3,400 yards and 43 touchdowns — led him to be the Buccaneers’ first-round draft selection in 2012.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Doug Martin (22) walks off the field after a staggeringly successful day against the Oakland Raiders in an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 4, 2012 at O.co Coliseum in Oakland, Calif. Martin rushed for 251 yards and four touchdowns, as the Buccaneers won, 42-32. (D. Ross Cameron/Staff)
Martin had been known around the college campus for his bounding social energy. He rode a remote-controlled electric skateboard to classes, forged close locker-room friendships and even embraced the popularity of “Teach Me How to Dougie,” a hit song with a signature dance move that shared his name.
“He was just having fun playing ball,” said Keith Bhonapha, the college’s running-back coach at the time. “He really felt at home there.”
Martin’s NFL draft-day party at his relatives’ house in the Oakland hills was uniquely festive, recalled Tony Franks, his high school coach in Stockton. Television trucks lined the street and dozens of people cheered when the St. Mary’s High School star received a call from the Buccaneers at the end of the first round.
Martin’s running style was prototypical for the time — “powerful, compact, explosive,” he said, yet nimble enough to “change direction on a dime.”
“He had such natural strength, leg strength, body strength,” Franks said. “The force he could create by accelerating was just tremendous.”
In the NFL, though, Martin faced adversity. After a breakout rookie season, he suffered a torn labrum that sidelined him for much of his follow-up campaign. Still, he notched two All-Pro teams in a career that lasted seven seasons, rushing for over 5,300 yards and two touchdowns before retiring in 2018.
Martin was suspended four games in 2016 for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy after testing positive for a banned substance. In a statement at the time, Martin said he initially considered appealing the penalty but had decided instead to seek treatment.
“My shortcomings,” he said of his off-the-field life, “have taught me both that I cannot win these personal battles alone and that there is no shame in asking for help.”
Bhonapha, an Oakland native who played football at Skyline High School, visited Martin sometime during the Tampa Bay years. Over a steak dinner, the coach recalled, Martin spoke sentimentally about his Boise State years, reminiscing about the familiarity and friendships that came before the realities of adulthood.
“The amount of calls I’ve gotten from teammates since this weekend asking what happened … guys who were really close with him said they hadn’t talked to him in a couple years,” Bhonapha said.
But even amid the shock of Martin’s untimely passing, those who witnessed the Stockton kid’s rise to the sport’s top ranks recalled the determination that had brought him there.
“He had probably gone through being doubted because of his size at one point,” Byner said. “But he never doubted what he could do — and we didn’t, either.”
Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com.
Shomik Mukherjee is a reporter covering Oakland. Call or text him at 510-905-5495 or email him at smukherjee@bayareanewsgroup.com.
About 260 sexual abuse lawsuits were paused when the Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa filed for bankruptcy in 2023. That has been a frustration for survivors who want the actions of their abusers, and the failings of the powerful institution that obscured the crimes, dragged into the daylight.
Now, it looks like a few of those survivors may have their days in court.
The judge in the bankruptcy, Charles Novack of the Northern District of California, recently put a small set of lawsuits on the path to trial, where they are expected to set a baseline for the diocese’s potential financial liability.
It’s an important step, those involved say, in pushing insurance companies to enter into a global settlement with the diocese and the dozens of people who say they were harmed by predatory church figures. And it could offer a rare chance for claimants to speak openly of their abuse in a courtroom, and to gather additional information through the legal discovery process.
When cases are “quieted” by bankruptcy, said Dan McNevin, who is on the board of directors of the advocacy group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, it means “the public won’t have a clear read on who enabled the abuse, who covered it up and whether those people are still in power and behaving in that fashion.”
When McNevin was molested in the Oakland Diocese, he said, the bishop there told him his abuser, the Rev. James Clark, had no prior record. After he sued, McNevin found out Clark had in fact been convicted of a sex crime before moving into his parish.
“His file was sanitized. There was no record of his probation,” McNevin said. “We got the information by deposing the former chancellor of the diocese. So discovery is really important.”
Little has been revealed publicly about the cases Novack is allowing to proceed.
Should any of the plaintiffs win those lawsuits, it’s likely funds recovered in judgment would be held in trust, said Jennifer Stein, an attorney with Jeff Anderson & Associates, a Los Angeles-based firm that has represented thousands of victims of predatory priests. That money would be distributed later among qualifying survivors.
The Santa Rosa Diocese, which oversees 42 parishes reaching from American Canyon in Napa County to Crescent City near the Oregon border, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March 2023. Like Catholic dioceses across the U.S., the local jurisdiction said it was facing an existential threat from a massive wave of sex abuse suits.
Bishop Robert Vasa of the Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa, Oct. 13, 2025. (Kent Porter / The Press Democrat)
Christopher Chung/The Press Democrat
Mike Tarvid filed a lawsuit against the Santa Rosa Catholic Diocese after harboring a secret for nearly 50 years involving his abuse at the hands of North Coast priest Gary Timmons. Photo taken in Santa Rosa on Dec. 12, 2022. (Christopher Chung/The Press Democrat)
Kent Porter/The Press Democrat
Father John Crews, the former executive director of the Hanna Boys Center in Sonoma Valley, was among 39 names released in 2019 by the Santa Rosa Diocese, listing those who committed child sexual abuse or were credibly accused of such crimes. Hanna Boys Center is a co-defendant in dozens of lawsuits against the Santa Rosa Diocese. Crews resigned in 2013, when he was first accused of child sex abuse by the widow of a man who had been assaulted at a Sebastopol church. He was last known to be in South Carolina. (Kent Porter/The Press Democrat)
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Bishop Robert Vasa of the Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa, Oct. 13, 2025. (Kent Porter / The Press Democrat)
By that time, the Santa Rosa Diocese had been served with about 160 claims of sexual abuse under a 2019 state law that opened a three-year window for survivors 40 and older to file personal injury cases for past child sex abuse cases.
By August 2023, the diocese had paid out at least $35 million in settlements, dating back to the 1990s, at the onset of a painful worldwide reckoning with sexual abuse by clergy within the Catholic church.
In January 2019, the diocese released a list of 39 of its priests and bishops who committed sexual abuse and misconduct, or had been credibly accused of doing so, between the 1960s and the 2010s.
The efforts of survivors are now moving along two tracks. There is Novack’s courtroom, the setting for one of 17 bankruptcy cases nationwide involving Catholic dioceses, including six in California — Oakland, San Francisco and Sacramento among them. Another 20 dioceses have emerged from bankruptcy since 2005.
And there’s Judicial Council Coordinated Proceeding 5108, or JCCP 5108, which consolidates hundreds of lawsuits against multiple Catholic dioceses in Northern California. That proceeding is being administered in Alameda County Superior Court.
The decision by religious leaders to file for bankruptcy demonstrates the strength of the abuse cases, according to Stein. “They would not be taking such expensive, egregious measures if there weren’t fear of liability,” she said.
Bishop Robert F. Vasa of Santa Rosa, leader of the diocese since 2011, acknowledges the gravity of the threat.
“It’s absolutely no secret that sexual abuse lawsuits, even in the secular world, bring huge judgments in a court of law,” Vasa said. “So there’s no doubt in the case of the church they be equally large if not larger. But it’s beyond our scope to generate the money to pay for those. Regardless of whether it’s a $1 million judgment or a $2 million judgment, we don’t have the resources in a million years is to pay for those.”
Long list of co-defendants
A bankruptcy court exhibit filed in April offers detail on sites connected to the alleged abuse in the Santa Rosa Diocese.
The largest share of complaints, 60 in all, name Hanna Boys Center, the 80-year-old residential school and service campus for at-risk youth that has sought to remake itself with a retooled mission even as new suits piled up alleging long-ago abuse.
But the list of diocesan sites is long and varied.
Camp St. Michael, an outdoor ministry in Mendocino County that ceased operation in 2011, is named in 25 claims. The diocesan cathedral, St. Eugene’s in Santa Rosa, is named in 13. Nine are tied to St. Bernard’s Catholic Church in Eureka, nine to St. Rose of Lima church in Santa Rosa, seven to St. Apollinaris in Napa and six to Cardinal Newman High School in Santa Rosa.
In all, 27 diocese sites are represented.
The exhibit laying out that information pertains to a subset of 207 cases that include co-defendants. The state court is currently weighing a request to allow those suits to proceed against the co-defendants, even if they are paused against the diocese. The church is fighting the effort, arguing that because co-defendants such as Hanna Boys Center and Cardinal Newman are covered by the same insurance policies as the diocese, any legal fees or settlements they end up paying will only further deplete the money potentially available for the wider pool of survivors.
The Santa Rosa Diocese estimates the sexual abuse cases levied against it would average $2 million each in monetary demands — liability that could surpass half a billion dollars if the church were to lose all the cases. In its bankruptcy petition, the diocese reported unidentified assets valued between $10 million and $50 million.
To get a more accurate read on liability, it is common in litigation spanning multiple districts for the court to select one or more cases to proceed to trial. Novack signaled his approval in the bankruptcy, and the diocese worked with a committee of unsecured creditors in the case — made up of sex abuse survivors — to identify a handful of representative cases.
“The committee wanted several cases released for trial to kind of set a benchmark — what are these cases worth in a real trial?” Vasa said. “Just to say to the insurers, ‘If these go to trial, there may be a huge judgment.’”
Insurers called out
Insurance companies are a major player in these bankruptcy proceedings. Some of the other parties believe they are an impediment.
The insurers have been “woefully deficient in fulfilling contractual promises” to pay claims, said attorney Rick Simons, who serves as a liaison for the hundreds of sex abuse cases that make up JCCP 5108, the consolidated civil action.
“They sold these policies in the ’70s, the ’80s, the ’60s, some into the 2000s, for $25,000, $35,000 and $55,000 apiece,” Simons said of the insurers. “Now they owe, nationally, billions and billions of dollars in claims. They don’t care about rules and laws. They just want to keep saying no so they can negotiate a lump sum that’s like 8 cents on the dollar.”
Just over a year ago, the creditors committee petitioned for a two-hour court conference allowing survivors to read personal statements. “This proceeding is likely the only opportunity that Survivors in Santa Rosa will have to seek acknowledgement and justice for the decades of isolation and pain they endured,” the committee argued.
The church supported the motion. At least five insurance companies opposed it — Lloyd’s of London, Pacific Indemnity, Pacific Employers Insurance, Century Indemnity and Westchester Fire Insurance, the latter four all under the umbrella of Pacific. Novack granted the petition over their objections, and survivors were allowed to read statements during a private conference on Feb. 6.
Meanwhile, committee members have joined the diocese and its insurers in several rounds of court-approved mediation. Vasa insists all parties, including the church, are working hard to reach an agreement everyone can live with.
“It’s kind of a dance,” the bishop said. “What is a reasonable number that the committee will accept, so that survivors will see they’ve done their due diligence? We can never compensate for all the harm done. But we can manifest care and concern, and demonstrate that we are not trying to stand in the way of what is just.”
You can reach Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @Skinny_Post.
The city appeared to have reached the final stage of awarding a three-year, $27 million deal to a new security company on several occasions this year. But the deliberations have gone nowhere, and now Oakland is starting over from scratch.
It may take three months or longer for a new contract to be prepared, officials estimated, leaving the city to continue paying the incumbent company, ABC Security, on a month-to-month basis.
The current arrangement has now persisted for over a year, and in total the company has been paid over $30 million since it first signed with Oakland in 2018, including several contract extensions and pay increases during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is a reflection of the city’s struggles to leave behind the remnants of last year’s corruption scandal, laying bare the messy politics around city contracts and the millions of public dollars given to private vendors that win them.
On two occasions in recent months, the Oakland City Council has had the opportunity to leave ABC behind and award the contract to Allied Universal, the world’s largest private security provider.
Both times, it has stopped short. Elected leaders have openly advocated for an immigrant-owned local business, Marina Security Services, to receive the contract instead — despite Marina finishing behind Allied in the city’s bidding process.
“The council typically tries to be friendly to local vendors, while staff tends to look at it in more of a dispassionate way,” said Dan Lindheim, a former Oakland city administrator. “The sets of criteria they are using is different; sometimes they’re contradictory.”
ABC Security Service guard Sabira Hussein screens visitors at City Hall in downtown Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)
ABC Security, the existing contract holder, is not mentioned in the federal criminal indictments filed by prosecutors this year against ex-Mayor Sheng Thao, her romantic partner Andre Jones and the father-and-son business duo of David and Andy Duong, whose family has the city’s recycling contract.
But the company’s owner, Ana Chretien, is a close ally and business associate of Mario Juarez, who this news organization has previously reported to be a co-conspirator in an alleged scheme to bribe the former mayor.
ABC received its latest contract extension in September 2024, a decision that nearly required then-Mayor Thao to cast a tie-breaking vote, though the council ultimately reached a unanimous decision to stick with the company. According to The Oaklandside, Juarez and another person named in federal subpoenas had lobbied on behalf of ABC Security when it seemed the company might not get its contract renewed in 2022.
Juarez, who was never charged by the feds, has long been a fierce advocate for Chretien’s company. Last month, he distributed notices to local news media on behalf of the Oakland Latino Business Association and Committee. These notices cite lawsuits alleging unfair labor practices that have been filed against the companies that finished first and second place in Oakland’s most recent contract bid process: Allied Universal and Marina Security Services.
Chretien did not respond to questions about her current association with Juarez, with whom she swapped ownership of several commercial properties when the two represented the same real-estate company
At least on the legal front, the notices are on to something: workers have filed in court for unpaid wages against both Allied, and Marina, whose owner is politically-connected.
But to the extent that there’s negativity at City Hall around the two companies, it hardly needs to be generated by outside critics.
At a meeting last month, Councilmember Ken Houston, a vocal fan of Marina, alluded to a report by The Oaklandside that a subsidiary of Allied was contracted to provide transportation to armed detention officers with the Department of Homeland Security.
Oakland city council member district seven Ken Houston speaks during the 2025 Inauguration Ceremony held at Oakland City Hall in Oakland, Calif., on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
This would seem to run afoul of a 2019 city policy that forbids public deals with companies contracted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for services at “detention facilities.”
The council had already rejected Allied once before, months earlier, over settlements — including back wages — that the company has had to pay out to current and former employees. Allied officials did not respond to an interview request.
City staff, including Transportation Director Josh Rowan, made clear at the time that their own process found Allied as the strongest bidder. But the new ICE question appeared to lead officials to relent — and now Oakland will start from scratch.
Marina, meanwhile, has its own share of ups and downs. Its owner, Sam Tadesse, has repeatedly alleged bias by city staff who ranked the company second place in its bid process.
He similarly raised issues with the Peralta Community College District’s own search this year for a security contractor, which ended with the school system ditching Marina for another provider after Tadesse’s company placed third in that bidding process.
Tadesse, a prolific donor in local political races, said Thursday he will wait to see the city’s next request-for-proposals before deciding whether to pursue the contract once more.
“We are confident that we can once again demonstrate we are deserving and capable of exceeding the City’s security needs,” he said in a statement to this news organization, adding that he is “hopeful” the city runs a “fair and effective process.”
Two suspects died in a crash early Saturday in San Leandro after reportedly leading California Highway Patrol officers in a highway chase that began in Castro Valley, officials said.
According to the CHP, a pair of officers also suffered major injuries when both their vehicle and the white Mercedes they were pursuing crashed into a noise barrier on a tight, winding exit road from I-238 that leads to East 14th Street.
The two officers were taken to a hospital with major injuries, though they were not life-threatening, the CHP said Saturday. A passenger in the Mercedes was also hospitalized with major injuries.
The pursuit on Saturday began at about 3:41 a.m. when CHP officers attempted a traffic stop of the Mercedes sedan on Interstate 580, near Eden Canyon Road in Castro Valley, authorities said.
The driver did not pull over, the CHP said, and the ensuing vehicle chase extended for several miles along I-580 and I-238. It ended when the Mercedes crashed off the highway exit, just before it could reach San Leandro’s city streets.
Authorities said the CHP vehicle similarly ran into the barrier as a result of the first crash, though the two vehicles did not collide.
Responders from the Alameda County Fire Department and county sheriff’s office arrived to the scene soon afterward. The case is under investigation, the CHP said. No identifying details of the deceased suspects had been released as of press time Saturday.
Saturday’s incident was the latest high-speed law enforcement chase in the East Bay to result in a deadly crash — a trend that has led to fierce public debates in nearby Oakland about when police should engage in pursuits.
Last month, a civilian body that oversees the Oakland police approved new policies that relaxed previous restrictions on when the city’s officers can initiate a high-speed chase.
The CHP is not bound by any local policies limiting pursuit speeds. The agency has regularly been deployed to the East Bay, a crime-reduction strategy championed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
OAKLAND — Homicide investigators were on the verge of potentially solving two killings, if only they could figure out everyone’s nickname.
The 2020 shooting death of 37-year-old Charles “Scrappy” King Jr. had gone unsolved for years, but in 2024 a man facing federal gun charges in Stockton agreed to tell police who had done it. It was “Lil Bubba,” the eyewitness told authorities, who’d shot a belligerent “Scrappy” as the victim was bragging about having killed “Mini Jug” in the same area weeks earlier, according to court records.
Police soon identified “Lil Bubba” as 47-year-old Ahmad Wyatt, and a second suspect was later identified as Andre “Frog” Heard, 44, court records show. Both were charged in 2024, and have since resolved their cases.
Heard pleaded no contest to assault with a firearm for a three-year prison term, and Wyatt was sentenced to 11 years after pleading no contest to voluntary manslaughter, court records show. Wyatt was transferred to North Kern State Prison on Sept. 18.
Police were later able to identify “Mini Jug” as 46-year-old Karlin Watts, who was shot and killed on Sept. 19, 2019, while standing on the 1400 block of 85th Avenue in Oakland, authorities said. Five months later, on Feb. 12, 2020, King was shot and killed at the same location, allegedly after bragging about having killed Watts, antagonizing passers-by, and knocking Wyatt down during a confrontation.
I guess he felt he was big (expletive) because of what he did. He thought people were scared of him,” the witness who came forward after catching a federal gun case testified at the 2024 preliminary hearing. An Oakland detective later testified that it was widely believed around that neighborhood that King had killed Watts.
After being shot, King allegedly attempted to run away, leaving a blood trail and limping from the area as he yelled, “I’m hit.” Then one of the suspects allegedly fired again, killing him.
At the preliminary hearing, Judge Rhonda Burgess doubted the defendants fired at King simply to scare him, saying that based on King’s reputation as a killer that would be like “poking the bear.” She also said that King seemed to be going out of his way to anger people.
“Mr. King has certainly done a lot that evening to make a lot of enemies,” Burgess said.
OAKLAND — Two men were wounded, one at least twice, in a Thursday night shooting at a West Oakland parking lot, authorities said.
Both men, one a 47-year-old Oakland man who was wounded in the head and leg and a 31-year-old San Francisco man who was hit in the leg, were in stable condition Friday at a hospital, authorities said.
The shooting happened about 9:28 p.m. Thursday in a commercial mall parking lot in the 900 block of West Grand Avenue and caused the activation of a gunshot detection alert system, authorities said.
Initial police reports were that a car drove into the parking lot and one masked man got out with a firearm while another man remained in the vehicle. Both men began shooting toward the other two men before fleeing in the vehicle.
More than two dozen shots were fired, authorities said. Some parked vehicles and a building were also hit by gunfire but no other injuries were reported.
Police have not said if the two men shot knew each other or if one or both of them were the intended targets.
A motive for the shooting is under investigation. Detailed descriptions of the shooters have not been released.
Anyone with information may call investigators at 510-238-3426.
OAKLAND — Months after a judge praised an Oakland murder defendant as a “wonderful young man” and released him from jail, police in Stanislaus County have publicly identified him as an “armed and dangerous” fugitive who allegedly killed a man last month.
Keyante Reed, 19, was released from jail in January by Alameda County Judge Elena Condes, and for the next several months was deemed compliant by Alameda County probation officials who run a pretrial release program. But then came September, when Reed was first wounded in a shootout almost identical to the one that led to his Oakland murder case.
He was hospitalized and jailed on suspicion of gun possession, then freed from custody, according to court records. Just 10 days later, he allegedly shot and killed a man on Sept. 19 in Riverbank in Stanislaus County, records show.
On Oct. 18, 2024, Reed was charged with murdering 50-year-old Lamar Payne in a Sept. 7, 2024 shootout outside the Go Go Amigo Market, near 105th Avenue and E Street in East Oakland. Police say Reed and two other men began firing at one another, killing Payne, a bystander, in the process. A second suspected gunman was identified as 21-year-old Michai Adams and charged with murder this year. A third suspect, 22-year-old Tamarkus Killensworth, was arrested on gun charges, court records show.
After Reed’s arrest, his lawyer argued in court that Reed — who turned 18 just six weeks before the homicide — was the victim of an ambush that day, and stating that he was targeted for violence by Payne’s friends inside Santa Rita Jail. One support letter from an engagement specialist at Laney College, described Reed as “one of the most respectful and considerate” students he had observed. Another letter, from Reed’s mother, said it was “mind boggling” that Reed would end up a murder defendant.
“My boy is a great kid. He’s smart, he’s a big help in my family. I love the way he interacts with his siblings. No matter what the situation is, you could count on him,” Reed’s mother wrote.
Judge Condes was at first apprehensive about releasing Reed, noting that it appeared from surveillance footage that he had fired at people who were “retreating” from the shootout. When she eventually signed off on his release to house arrest, Condes cited his enrollment at Laney College and the fact that Reed had been shot twice in Oakland since moving there from Las Vegas at age 16.
“You sound like a wonderful young man,” Condes told him in court. “I am sure that you are meant for much better things.”
But almost exactly one year to the day after Payne was gunned down, Reed returned to the same store, allegedly armed with a .40 caliber pistol, and the same thing happened again. This time, at around 11 a.m. last Sept. 9, police responded to a report of a shootout outside the GoGo Amigo market. They discovered two piles of casings, and found Reed, wounded by a 9 mm pistol, hiding with a handgun next to him, authorities said.
Police say the man who allegedly shot Reed was identified as De’Vonte Lowe, 33, and arrested on gun charges during a Sept. 18 traffic stop.
At the time of Reed’s arrest last year, Oakland police said he was known to sell marijuana near the store.
Reed was hospitalized, listed in stable condition, and once cleared by doctors, he was booked into Santa Rita Jail on suspicion of gun possession. At a court appearance the following day, Alameda County prosecutors made no motion to detain him for allegedly possessing a gun, nor did they end up charging him in the Sept. 9 shooting, court records show. He was released from jail within days of his arrest, with a court appearance set for Oct. 1.
Then, around 4 p.m. on Sept. 19, Stanislaus County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of a shooting on the 100 block of Claus Road in Riverbank, where they found Markesse Owens dying from gunshot wounds. He was pronounced deceased later that day. Investigators identified Reed as the suspect, and on Sept. 23, the sheriff’s office issued a public alert to be out on the lookout for Reed.
Reed did not show up for his Oct. 1 court appearance in Oakland, and so a judge issued a warrant for his arrest there, too.
Just three months ago, an Alameda County probation officer wrote that Reed appeared to be largely successful on pretrial release, despite not providing proof that he’d enrolled in a GED program.
“The defendant is a new father and appears to participate in the child’s life and upbringing on a regular basis. He is actively taking classes in parenting” the report says, later quoting a class supervisor who said, “Overall, Mr. Reed has shown commitment and progress in his reunification efforts.”
Police have described Reed as a Black man with black hair and brown eyes, standing at about 5 feet10 inches tall and weighing about 177 pounds. Police are urging anyone who sees him to call 911, and any witnesses in Owens’ killing to contact Detective Mario Hernandez at 209-525-7075. Anonymous tips can be made by calling Stanislaus Area Crime Stoppers at 866-602-7463.
MENLO PARK — Three men were charged this week with meeting with a minor with the intent of engaging in lewd and lascivious behavior after an undercover police officer posed as a 13-year-old girl on online dating websites, prosecutors said.
The operation was aimed at combatting child exploitation, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office. All three men allegedly arrived at a location where they believed they would be meeting the fake 13-year-old girl.
“It is never ceases to amaze me … how many predators there are out there who are more than willing to reach out, develop contact with juvenile girls — juvenile boys too — and to try and set up a time to get together to engage in illegal sexual conduct,” said San Mateo County District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe. “What Menlo Park has chosen to do is to, by using an undercover (officer), … basically, it’s almost like throwing a hook in the water to see: Does anything catch on?”
Yony Sifredo Trochez Martinez, a 33-year-old resident of San Jose, and Jefferson Aldair Martinez Hernadez, a 26-year-old resident of San Leandro, were each charged with three counts of communicating with a minor with the intent of committing lewd and lascivious behavior, one count of meeting with a minor for the purposes of lewd and lascivious behavior and one count of distribution of harmful material to children with the intent of sexual intercourse, prosecutors said.
Arunkumar Kizhakkedath Unnikrishnan, a 45-year-old resident of Mountain View, was charged with two counts of communicating with a minor with the intent of committing lewd and lascivious behavior and one count of meeting with a child for the purposes of lewd or lascivious behavior, prosecutors added.
All three defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.
On Sept. 24, a Menlo Park Police Department officer represented himself as a 13-year-old girl on WhatsApp and dating website Badoo, prosecutors said. Three men independently reached out to the undercover officer, and spoke to the fake girl despite being explicitly told she was 13.
The three men texted with the girl to set up a meeting for sex, prosecutors said. They also sent graphic photos and videos and discussed “the sex they would engage in.”
The officers arranged for meetings with the fake 13-year-old girl on Gilbert Street in Menlo Park, prosecutors added. When each of the men showed up at their separate meeting times, they were arrested.
Wagstaffe added the that charges were chosen specifically in anticipation of certain defenses the defendants may use.
“The defense that all three of them said was, ‘Well, I know she said she was 13, but I thought she was much older,’ — you know, silly stuff like that,” Wagstaffe said.
Bail for each defendant was set at $10,000, prosecutors said.
“Menlo Park got three people who were willing to reach out to a 13 year old — what they thought was a 13 year old,” Wagstaffe added. “We now have three people who we will attempt to convict of these crimes and try and hold them accountable.”
OAKLAND — One of the alleged gunman in a wild 2023 double homicide has been sentenced to probation and time he had already served in jail, court records show.
In a plea deal with prosecutors, Sir Cameron Young, 23, pleaded no contest to an assault weapon possession charge in exchange for the probation sentence. Prosecutors dropped other charges of assault and gun possession as part of the deal, court records show.
Young was implicated — along with another man who faced similar charges and a third man who didn’t — in a June 2023 shootout at a gas station on 66th Avenue in Oakland, where 23-year-old Idriek Patterson, of Newark, and 25-year-old Anteasa Collins, of Stockton, were killed. Other participants included Damarea Jones, 32, and Dominic Gates, 31, according to police.
Jones was charged with gun possession and pleaded no contest in October 2023, receiving probation. Gates was never charged, but he was later implicated in a high-profile murder case that fell apart over self-defense claims, court records show.
Authorities alleged that around 5:30 a.m. on June 4, 2023, Patterson, Jones, and a woman pulled up in a Buick, and were spotted by Gates and Young, who ran up and began shooting. Patterson was killed while attempting to run for cover, and Collins — who allegedly arrived with Young and Gates and had a tattoo that said “Dominic” on her neck — was killed a few moments later.
While Gates avoided criminal charges in the shooting, he was later charged with failing to register as a sex offender, due to a prior conviction of pimping a girl 16 or younger, court records show. Then, in 2024, Gates and Richard James Romano were both charged with murdering Alliauna Green, a rising Oakland rapper who used the stage name Tan DaGod.
But much like the June 2023 shootout, Green’s July 2024 killing was fraught with legal issues and self-defense claims. Police testimony revealed that Green actually fired first at Gates and Romano after they allegedly pulled guns, but that the guns were pulled after Green allegedly threatened the men. Defense attorneys argued Green was posturing because her public image was dependent on false claims she’d made, like pretending to have killed an abusive ex-boyfriend in self-defense and pulling a public stunt where she claimed to smoke his ashes in a marijuana cigar.
As a result of all this, Gates and Romano pleaded no contest to gun charges and were released from jail. Like Young, they were sentenced to time they’d already served behind bars, court records show.
While Young’s case was pending, he was initially released from jail, but then re-arrested after failing to appear in court. A judge denied a defense motion to release him from jail, which cited Young’s lack of criminal history and said he is the “sole provider” for his growing family.
“Mr. Young is the sole provider for his infant. Mr. Young’s girlfriend is pregnant. The two of them have struggled to maintain consistent housing throughout the pendency of this case,” defense lawyer Jesse Adams wrote in a declaration filed in court.
