SAN JOSE – A Santa Clara County jail inmate died Sunday evening at Valley Medical Center, nearly a month after he was admitted for chest pains, according to authorities.
The in-custody death is the county’s eighth of the year.
On Sept. 30, the man was booked on charges including felony elder abuse, grand theft and fraud, Santa Clara County sheriff’s Sgt. Russell Davis said in a news release Monday.
The inmate was taken to the hospital the following day, Davis said, adding that the man’s condition later worsened.
On Sunday, medical personnel performed emergency life-saving measures on the man in his room, where he was pronounced dead shortly before 5:30 p.m., Davis said.
The man’s identity was not released Monday.
The sheriff’s office Major Crimes Unit opened an investigation into the death and reported no evidence of foul play, Davis said.
OAKLAND — An 87-year-old woman suffered multiple fractures when she was robbed Wednesday afternoon in North Oakland and three suspects, including a 13-year-old boy, were arrested later after allegedly robbing another woman at gunpoint in the Dimond district, authorities said.
The other suspects arrested were a 16-year-old boy and an 18-year-old man, authorities said
The 87-year-old woman was robbed just before 4 p.m. Wednesday in a parking lot in the 5100 block of Telegraph Avenue in the Temescal district.
Initial police reports were that the woman was dragged on the pavement by a male suspect who had grabbed her purse.
The suspect, who may have had a gun, was able to wrestle the purse away and fled in an SUV occupied by at least two other people, authorities said.
The woman suffered multiple fractures to her hips and back area and was in stable condition Thursday at a hospital, authorities said.
Police said about 4:35 p.m. Wednesday the same suspects robbed a 45-year-old woman of personal items at gunpoint in the 3400 block of Lincoln Avenue in the Dimond district before fleeing in the SUV.
The vehicle was spotted by police several blocks away and the police helicopter began tracking it, providing updates on its location to ground units that were not directly behind the vehicle.
The SUV drove throughout the city before finally crashing in the 800 block of 40th Street, where the three suspects were arrested, police said.
Police said it turned out the SUV had been stolen earlier in Oakland before the robberies but had not been officially reported yet.
Property taken from the 45-year-old woman was recovered in the vehicle. The 45-year-old woman and a witness were brought to the scene and identified the suspects as the alleged robbers, authorities said.
Another witness later contacted officers and told them they had seen the suspects throw a gun from the SUV while fleeing the Lincoln Avenue robbery. Police found the gun.
The suspects were arrested on suspicion of numerous charges, including robbery, elder abuse and vehicle theft counts.
SAN RAMON – The head of the San Ramon Valley Unified School District is speaking out after a student allegedly attacked an assistant principal at a homecoming dance over the weekend.
The incident happened Saturday night at California High School, located at 9870 Broadmoor Drive in San Ramon, according to Superintendent CJ Cammack. In a letter to district employees and families, Cammack said the assistant principal approached two students in the parking lot and was physically assaulted by one of them.
The students left the area after the incident, but San Ramon police took one of them into custody later the same night.
Cammack said the students do not attend Cal High, but are enrolled at another school in the district.
A police department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for additional details about the case, including the arrested student’s age and city of residence.
The district is cooperating with the criminal investigation, Cammack said, adding that it will conduct its own probe and “pursue all disciplinary consequences to the fullest extent permissible by law.”
“We want to be clear that, in no uncertain terms, this conduct will not be tolerated at Cal High or at any school in SRVUSD,” the superintendent said in the letter. “We care deeply about the safety and well-being of our students, as well as all of our staff.”
The incident, Cammack added, is “not a reflection of the outstanding character and conduct of our student population at Cal High or in SRVUSD as a whole.”
“As we shared directly with the Cal High community, we all have a collective responsibility to care for one another and ensure that each and every site in SRVUSD is a place where all members of our community are safe, both physically and emotionally,” Cammack said.
Anyone with information related to the incident can contact the police department at 925-973-2700.
Before 6-year-old Jordan Walker was stabbed to death, his grandfather had begged for custody, warning Santa Clara County social workers that the two-bedroom apartment where the San Jose boy lived with a cast of nefarious relatives with criminal backgrounds coming and going was dangerous.
But those red flags were either ignored or mishandled, grandfather Morian Walker Sr. said. Now as one of the boy’s uncles sits in jail on murder charges in the killings of Jordan and Jordan’s great-grandmother a year ago, Walker Sr. is suing Santa Clara County’s child welfare agency, Washington Elementary School in San Jose and others, claiming they didn’t do enough to keep Jordan safe.
“I talked to several people at Child Protective Services, to social workers,” Walker said in a phone interview. “I asked them to do criminal background histories on everyone that’s living there. I asked them to check the police reports, to see the police blotter at that location. It all fell on deaf ears.”
The lawsuit hasn’t been served yet, and the county had no comment except to say that “the murder of this child and his great-grandmother is a heartbreaking and shocking tragedy.” The school district also had no comment.
The lawsuit also challenges a guiding principle of Damion Wright, the director of the county’s child welfare agency who is named in the lawsuit: that children always do best with their families. In this case, at least, despite intervention and support from his agency, Jordan was placed with the wrong relatives.
As the lawsuit makes clear, Jordan’s brief life was chaotic and insecure. His mother, Danielle Walker Marshman, had a history of drug problems and allegations of neglect. In August 2022, a social worker came to her home amid reports that adults there were selling fentanyl and leaving drug paraphernalia around the house. When Jordan’s mother refused a drug test and social workers didn’t see any signs of drugs, the case was considered “unfounded” and closed, the lawsuit says.
Two months later, social workers responded to reports that Jordan’s mother and stepfather were smoking fentanyl, and Jordan was left alone for hours and had to “scrounge” for food. The case was closed because “social workers said they were unable to make contact with the family,” the lawsuit said.
Not until February 2023 was Jordan removed from his mother’s care — six months before he was killed — when he took a bag of methamphetamines to school and told his teacher that his mother had given it to him. The lawsuit accuses Washington Elementary of sending Jordan home that day with his mother and, in prior instances, failing to report her neglectful care of him.
Even so, the incident with the bag of methamphetamine triggered prosecutors to charge Jordan’s mother with child endangerment. That’s when county social workers sent Jordan to live with Delphina Turner, his 71-year-old maternal great-grandmother.
“The apartment was described as an endless revolving door of different drug users and homeless people — both short term and long term visitors,” the lawsuit said.
Those coming and going through Turner’s apartment while Jordan was assigned to live there, the lawsuit says, were a convicted rapist, a felon who spent 20 years in prison, at least two drug addicts, and Jordan’s uncle, Nathan Addison, who had drug and mental health issues and a prison recordand is charged with Jordan’s murder.
At one point, it appears that a social worker flagged the family problems, writing in an “investigation narrative” that “the generational history of substance use, mental health, and criminal history indicate a risk for the family environment the child is exposed to.”
Walker, who filed the lawsuit, “was upset and appalled that his grandson was being placed in Turner’s home after social workers were told that he wanted the boy, had a stable environment for Jordan to live in and Jordan loved his grandfather and wanted nothing more,” the lawsuit said. Turner was once Walker’s mother-in-law.
Morian Walker, Sr., shares photos of himself with his late grandson, Jordan Walker, who was stabbed to death in Aug. 2023 allegedly by an uncle with a long criminal history. Walker is suing Santa Clara County’s child welfare agency for placing Jordan in an unsafe home instead of with him. (Photos Courtesy of Morian Walker)
Walker, 59, retired after a military career, says he purchased all of his grandson’s clothes and toys over the years in an effort to help his daughter who was struggling. In the lawsuit, Walker was characterized as “stable and had no drug or criminal history.”
Even though Walker “adamantly expressed” to social workers “the unsafe living conditions and the number of convicted felons and drug addicts living with Mrs. Turner,” Jordan was allowed to remain at the apartment of his great-grandmother. Turner had a long-term job at NASA, but Walker says she enabled her younger, drug-abusing, dependent relatives.
At one point, a social worker told a family member that “social workers knew there were dangerous people going in and out of Ms. Turner’s house, including Nathan Addison” and warned Turner that only she and Jordan were allowed in the home, the lawsuit says.
“Social Services did nothing to ensure the warning was adhered to,” the lawsuit says, “and in fact, knew it was not.”
The great-grandmother also promised that she would supervise all visits between Jordan and his mother, who had not been attending drug classes as agreed, the lawsuit said. When a social worker visited the mother’s home in June 2023 and found Jordan with her unsupervised — and the mother refusing a drug test — she called for the court to terminate parental rights. And that’s how — just weeks before the killing — Jordan was sent to live again with his great-grandmother in the two-bedroom apartment.
By that time, Addison had been released from prison and was back living in the apartment, the lawsuit said.
Walker says he was told by relatives that Turner had been giving money to Addison, and he may have become enraged when she cut him off, which led to the stabbing. Prosecutors wouldn’t immediately comment on a motive.
Walker broke down with emotion as he remembered his grandson’s short life, how he liked to swim and ride his skateboard. He was funny.
“I love him and I miss him,” Walker said. “And with every day that goes by, I won’t stop fighting for justice for Jordan and bringing to light the travesty that Santa Clara County Family and Children’s Services and everybody involved have let Jordan down.”
OAKLAND — Police say they’ve identified the person who threw a suitcase containing the body of a young man into Lake Merritt last year, but they’re still waiting on an autopsy report to determine the victim’s cause of death.
Police arrested 38-year-old Marice Bronson in connection with the discovery of the body in Halloween 2023, but Bronson was later released without charges. Authorities say that’s because while Bronson allegedly bragged to multiple people that he threw the body into the lake, he also claimed the victim died of a fentanyl overdose.
Now, homicide investigators are waiting to hear whether the victim died of an overdose, by independent means, or if there is evidence that he was still breathing when he was thrown into the lake. The outcome of the report will determine whether murder charges or less serious counts related to the body disposal will be filed, authorities said.
The case began with a 911 call on Oct. 31, 2023, when the body of Gabriel Gomez-Raymundo, 23, was found along a section of Lake Merritt near Lakeshore Avenue. Police say they received an anonymous tip days later stating they should investigate Bronson in the case.
Authorities say they subsequently spoke to numerous people who claimed that Bronson took responsibility for Gomez-Raymundo being in the lake. He allegedly said things like, “I threw somebody in Lake Merritt, didn’t you hear about it?”
In another instance, he reportedly joked about turning in a person who assisted in the body disposal and collecting a $10,000 reward being offered by police.
Bronson was arrested on suspicion of murder on Sept. 4, but later released without charges, records show. He also has a pending grand theft case in Alameda County, for allegedly stealing from a TJ Maxx store in Alameda.
Police say that in addition to the claim about having thrown Gomez-Raymundo in the lake, Bronson also said that the pair spent days together in Bronson’s apartment, and that Gomez-Raymundo died of an apparent fentanyl overdose after sleeping for nearly two days.
Staff writer Harry Harris contributed to this report.
HAYWARD — What began as a response to a court order violation Wednesday morning led to more than six-hour standoff between Alameda County sheriff’s deputies and a pellet rifle wielding man who also brandished what was thought to be a stick of dynamite, authorities said.
A pit bull associated with the home where the standoff happened also attacked a sheriff’s K-9, authorities said.
The 31-year-old suspect has been charged with two felonies: resisting an executive officer and possession of a destructive device and three misdemeanors: brandishing a replica gun, resisting a police officer and disobeying a domestic relations court order. He has also been charged with violating parole and his being held without bail at Santa Rita Jail.
The volatile incident began about 2:20 a.m. Wednesday when deputies were dispatched to a home in the 21000 block of Meekland Avenue in the unincorporated Cherryland community for a disturbance related to the man violating a restraining order to stay away from a woman who lives in the home, authorities said.
When deputies arrived the suspect allegedly brandished what turned out later to be a pellet rifle at them from inside, Sheriff’s Sgt. Roberto Morales said. That prompted a call-out of additional deputies, including the Special Response Unit, Crisis Intervention Unit, and drone operators.
Deputies were able to safely evacuate other occupants of the home, but the man remained inside.
While CIU deputies communicated with the man, he also brandished from inside an 8 to 10-inch object that looked consistent with a stick of dynamite and made threats that he had a bomb, Morales said. That later turned out to be “a makeshift apparatus taped together to resemble dynamite,” authorities said.
The man refused to surrender, remained uncooperative and continued to threaten deputies for several hours. A “gas irritant” was then deployed into the home by deputies to encourage the man to surrender, authorities said.
Before that, some neighbors in the area were evacuated and those who chose not to were encouraged to shelter in place.
After the gas deployment, a pit bull came out of the yard of the residence and attacked a sheriff’s K-9 named Gambit. Deputies are not sure if the suspect deliberately released the dog to attack the K-9 or if he let it out due to the gas irritant.
The K-9 suffered puncture wounds and was bleeding from its back leg following the attack. Its handler immediately took him to a veterinary hospital for treatment.
Authorities said it turned out the pit bull belonged to the person living at the home who had the restraining order and the dog was returned to her.
As negotiations continued the suspect eventually came out of the home to avoid the gas but then barricaded himself in the side yard.
He was ultimately arrested at about 8:40 a.m. and taken to a hospital for medical clearance before being booked at Santa Rita Jail.
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO – A 65-year-old Southern California woman has been arrested on suspicion of running a brothel out of an apartment in downtown South San Francisco, according to police.
The arrest followed a weeks-long investigation by Criminal Interdiction Unit detectives, who “conducted a surveillance operation and were able to substantiate reports of an active brothel,” the South San Francisco Police Department said in a news release.
On Sept. 5, detectives served a search warrant at the apartment, where they found two suspected “sex buyers” and two human trafficking survivors, according to police.
“The survivors were debriefed and offered services,” police said.
The suspect – identified as a resident of Rowland Heights in Los Angeles County – was also found at the apartment. Police said she was “determined to be assisting in the management and daily operations of the brothel and directly benefited from its proceeds.”
In addition, detectives seized roughly $10,000 in cash.
The suspect was arrested and booked into San Mateo County jail on charges of pimping and pandering.
Anyone with information related to the case can contact the Criminal Interdiction Unit at CIU@ssf.net or the police department at 650-877-8900.
SAN PABLO – East Bay authorities on Tuesday arrested three men on suspicion of buying and selling millions of dollars worth of stolen copper wire and catalytic converters.
The San Pablo Police Department learned about the alleged sales last month and launched a joint investigation with the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office, the law enforcement agency said in a news release.
Police said the investigation determined the suspects were “involved in the purchase, sales and possession of stolen catalytic converters and stolen copper wire.”
Around 8 a.m. Tuesday, officers and deputies served two search warrants in the 1700 block of Road 20 in San Pablo and in the 1000 block of Brookside Drive in Richmond.
A “significant cache of suspected stolen property” was recovered, including more than 700 catalytic converters, 1,000 pounds of copper wire and $113,000 in cash, police said.
“The suspects are believed to have been involved in an ongoing criminal enterprise to buy and sell stolen property, with more than $6.4 million in transactions in 2024 alone,” police said.
The men were arrested and expected to be booked into the Martinez Detention Facility on felony charges of grand theft of copper materials and receiving stolen property.
The case remains under investigation. Anyone with information can contact the police department’s investigations division at 510-215-3150.
ANTIOCH — Police here have opened an investigation after someone on social media called for bringing back “hangings in town square” to “fix Antioch right up.”
Interim Antioch Police Chief Brian Addington this week said police were investigating the recent comments as potential criminal or terrorist threats.
“It’s an open investigation. So, we are not gonna comment further on it,” Addington said. “It should be wrapped up within a couple of weeks at most.”
Once completed, Addington said the case would be sent to the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office to review filing charges against anyone believed to have violated the law.
The post in question, which purports to be from a man claiming to live in nearby Oakley, was first brought to the city’s attention at the Aug. 27 City Council meeting, when resident Nicole Arrington addressed the council about it. She later shared screenshots of the post with officials, including Addington.
Arrington said the remarks were part of a pattern of “vile, racist, and hateful” comments aimed at Black members of the council and city staff.
“Us calling out the truth doesn’t make us racists. We are not running around saying, ‘We hate people,’ or, ‘Somebody should be hung’ … we are not going to start talking about hanging,” Arrington said. “We are people of love; we don’t run around hating, hurting, or talking about hurting people.
“But if you keep talking about hurting people and making terrorist threats, then it might be a problem,” Arrington said.
The incident comes on the heels of someone vandalizing one of Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe’s campaign signs to add a clown wig and nose on his face and remove Hernandez from his name. Earlier this year, Hernandez-Thorpe successfully petitioned the county court to add Hernandez to his legal surname, as a way to honor the Mexican immigrants who raised him.
Racial tensions in Antioch, a city of 115,000, have been bubbling up for years, as the Black population doubled in the past two decades, while the White proportion of the population has plummeted to just over one-third of the city’s total.
In 2020, voters for the first time elected three Black politicians to the five-member City Council. But the city’s police force was soon mired in a racist text-message scandal where officers used slurs to refer to residents of color — even against then-Chief Steven Ford.
A total of 44 officers — or about half of the department — received the racist, homophobic and sexist texts. Three of those same officers are charged in an alleged conspiracy to assault Black residents for sport, and face trial later this year.
Councilmember Tamisha Torres-Walker in an interview called the “hanging” comment “outrageous” and a reminder of the vitriol that exists in the community. Since taking office in 2020, the Black councilwoman said, she has received several hateful comments on her social media pages, including being called “nasty miserable racist disgrace human,” “ugly,” “ghetto,” and “progressive clown,” among others.
Just three days before a recent council meeting, Torres-Walker posted on Instagram about a post she saw on social media about a sign on a highway near Concord that read, “not White, not welcomed.”
“I’ve always said I’m not as worried about those who are loud and vocal. Their bigotry is clear. I’m more concerned about the people who aren’t saying anything but listening to all these things,” she said. “It’s a bold thing to say publicly, but I’m glad people are saying it publicly because you know who they are.”
The last council meeting saw some of the same vitriol when the council voted to appoint Bessie M. Scott as Antioch’s new city manager. The hiring of Scott, who is Black, drew backlash from some residents who called out her social media history — some of which referenced systematic racism and social constructs that benefit only one race.
Within the council chambers, it resulted in a heated exchange similar to when emotions boiled over last year when the racist texts by police officers surfaced and Mayor Hernandez-Thorpe and a member of the public exchanged words. The mayor had been in a target in the texts; an officer said he’d buy a prime rib dinner to anyone who shot the mayor with a sponge bullet.
At the Aug. 27 meeting, resident Erika Raulston said that during the public comment period about Scott’s hiring, she heard a woman siting behind her say, “You guys are the problem; you guys are racist.”
“I turned around, and I said no. I turned back, and I heard her say ‘racist b—-,’ ” said Raulston, who added the woman asked if she wanted “to take matters outside.”
Raulston did not follow the woman, listening to her mother, Leslie May, who “snatched” her arm and warned her they could get arrested. May, a 72-year-old mental health therapist who sits on the city’s police oversight commission, said she, too, has been harassed, threatened and defamed by “keyboard cowards.”
“Their attempts didn’t work…They’ve even tried to interfere with my job by calling and lying to my supervisor about me to get me fired,” May said. “I’ve gone through hell with them.”
DUBLIN — Two people have been arrested in connection with an attack on a teen boy two weeks ago inside a locker room at Dublin High School, according to authorities.
An 18-year-old male and a 17-year-old male were arrested on suspicion of felony assault, Dublin Police Services said in a news release Friday. The older suspect was also arrested on suspicion of child abuse and trespassing.
Both suspects are former students at the Dublin Unified School District, police said.
The attack happened around 3:30 p.m. on Aug. 23. A female student, her mother and four young men entered the campus and confronted the victim outside the sports complex, according to an overview of the incident prepared by the school district.
After the confrontation, the victim went into the locker room. The men followed and attacked him, the overview stated. Members of the football team broke up the assault.
The female student and her mother were not involved in the physical attack, police said.
It appears there were previous conflicts between the victim and the girl, police said. And while the mother confronted the victim about those conflicts, it did not appear she coordinated the attack.
The older suspect may be acquainted with the victim and the younger suspect is related to the girl and her mother, police said.
According to the incident overview, the girl “will receive appropriate school consequences upon the completion of the school’s investigation.” She has been suspended.
The mother has been banned from campus, the overview stated.
Efforts are being made to improve security at the school, according to the overview. A campus supervisor is now stationed at the parking lot entrance to the locker room to monitor access and police have increased their presence at the school.
The district also plans to broach the idea of adding fencing at an upcoming school board meeting.
“While this won’t solve every potential issue, it will allow the site to better control the ingress and egress of people at the school,” Superintendent Chris Funk wrote in a message to parents. “Along with the recent addition of a video surveillance system, this should significantly improve campus security.”
The incident remains under investigation and police are working to identify the other suspects.
Anyone with information related to the case can contact the police department at 925-833-6670.
OAKLAND — Months after a judge tossed the murder case against one of two suspects in the killing of a local Uber driver, prosecutors reached a plea agreement that will result in a two-and-a-half-year prison term, court records show.
Major Willis, 21, was initially charged with murdering 52-year-old Kon Woo Fung, who was shot and killed during an attempted robbery in Oakland. Last November, Judge Thomas Reardon agreed with a defense motion and dismissed the murder charge, finding that Willis was not legally liable for the alleged actions of his teenaged co-defendant, who is believed to have fired the fatal shots.
More recently, Willis agreed to plead no contest to attempted carjacking. He is expected to be sentenced on Sept. 19 to 30 months in state prison, court records show.
Willis’ co-defendant, 18-year-old Tristen Bengco, was charged in juvenile court because he was 17 at the time Fung was killed. Prosecutors say that on the morning of July 17, 2022 the two ran up to Fung’s parked vehicle on East 22nd Street, attempted to force him out of his car and that Bengco killed him during the attempt. The pair abandoned the robbery and fled after the shot rang out.
But Willis’ lawyer argued that the shooting was accidental and that Willis was powerless to stop him. The defense conceded that Willis knew Bengco had a firearm that day, which prosecutors say he later admitted to the police.
“Whether Willis was standing next to the shooter Tristen, or a block away, it would have made little difference in stopping an unplanned, impulsive and possibly accidental discharge of Tristen’s gun,” Willis’ lawyer wrote in court filings.
Prosecutors, in their response motion, argued that Willis and Bengco were “on the same page” about how to carry out the robbery, including the use of the gun. After the killing, Willis and Bengco ran away and ended up ditching their car in San Francisco in an attempt to distance themselves from the suspect vehicle. In doing so, they both made a choice not to help Fung as he lay dying of a gunshot wound, prosecutors argued.
“This shows a lack of empathy that rises to literal indifference to human life,” Deputy District Attorney Emily Tienken wrote in the failed response to the defense motion to dismiss.
Willis has been in jail for nearly two years while the case has been pending. With good behavior credits it is unlikely he’ll be in custody for much longer, though a judge still needs to do that arithmetic at his sentencing hearing.
LOS ALTOS HILLS – A driver who hit and killed a bicyclist earlier this year in Los Altos Hills is facing a vehicular manslaughter charge after an investigation determined he was distracted, according to authorities.
The fatal collision happened Feb.13 on Foothill Expressway, north of Old Oak Court.
The bicyclist died of her injuries at the scene. She was identified as Maria Jabon, 38, of Los Altos.
The driver – identified as Mesfin Mekonnen, 64, of Santa Clara – remained at the scene and cooperated with the investigation.
Detectives with the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office went on to obtain “crucial evidence that indicated the driver was distracted and swerved into the bicycle lane and struck the bicyclist,” agency spokesperson Brooks Jaroz said in a news release Tuesday.
On Aug. 6, the district attorney’s office charged Mekonnen with one count of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, according to online court records. Jaroz said Mekonnen surrendered on Friday and was booked into the Main Jail in San Jose.
Anyone with information related to the case can contact the traffic investigation unit at 408-868-6600.
OAKLAND — A woman who was arrested and charged with killing an Alameda County Sheriff’s dispatcher in a suspected DUI crash has avoided returning to jail after a legal debate on the science of alcohol detectors, court records show.
Lynnette Davis, 32, was charged last June with vehicular manslaughter and drunk driving in the May 5 crash that killed Antoinette Finau, whose vehicle was broadsided as she drove to work. Davis was released from jail and enrolled in a supervised release program on Aug. 6, with the condition she wear an alcohol monitor and not consume alcohol while she’s out of custody, records show.
By mid-August, though, prosecutors were moved to violate and detain Davis after a failed test. A pretrial supervision officer wrote in a report that the monitor detected alcohol on Aug. 13 and continued to do so until Aug. 14.
But Davis denied she had been drinking, and instead said she’d spent much of the day cleaning her home. The defense provided a report by Joseph Anderson, a forensic consultant on alcohol consumption, who said the test results were well outside the “known range of ethanol elimination in the body” and therefore indicated a false reading.
“These observed behaviors raise significant doubt that these measurements were caused by consumed ethanol,” Anderson wrote. “Alternatively, the measurements could have been caused by other factors including but not limited to drift in calibration, environmental contaminates, and management of water.”
Davis’ Godsister also submitted a letter denying Davis had any alcohol that day.
“This matter is very serious to Lynette. She has not and will not jeopardize her freedom, the chance to do right, and be in her daughter’s life,” her Godsister wrote.
A judge denied the bid to jail Davis at a late August court hearing. Instead, Davis was reminded of the court order that says she can’t have alcohol and must enroll in an addiction program, court records show.
Finau was killed around 11:15 p.m. May 5, at the intersection of East 14th Street and 150th Avenue, the San Leandro Police Department said in a news release. Davis, who was not injured, had “obvious signs of intoxication” and failed a breathalyzer test, police said in court records. She was booked on manslaughter charges that same night.
Colleagues of Finau said at the time she dedicated her life to sharing joy, and left behind an 11-year-old daughter.
“Though her time with us was short, Antoinette impacted our agency with her sweet nature, kind heart, warm smile and pride in being the voice on the other end of a call for help,” her colleagues said on social media. “She was a loving mother, a sister, a daughter, and a friend to many. Rest well Antoinette. We will miss you.”
SAN JOSE – A man was killed in a shooting Monday morning in East San Jose, according to authorities.
The shooting was reported around 1:40 a.m. in the 1700 block of Story Road, near Emma Prusch Farm Park, San Jose police Officer Tanya Hernandez said in a news release. Officers arrived to find a man in a parking lot suffering from at least one gunshot wound.
The man was taken to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to Hernandez.
The motive and circumstances surrounding the homicide are under investigation. No arrests were announced Monday.
The Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office will release the man’s identity after it is confirmed and his next of kin is notified, according to Hernandez.
The death marked the city’s 23rd homicide of 2024. At the same time last year, San Jose police had investigated 25 homicides.
The homicide is the second since Sunday, when a woman was run over and killed around 4:20 a.m. in the 400 block of North 33rd Street. A person of interest later surrendered to authorities.
Anyone with information related to the fatal shooting can contact Detective Sgt. John Van Den Broeck at 4692@sanjoseca.gov or Detective Amanda Estantino at 4339@sanjoseca.gov, or both at 408-277-5283. Tips can also be left with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408-947-7867 or at siliconvalleycrimestoppers.org.
OAKLAND — A man who allegedly cut off his ankle monitor and absconded from parole just three days after finishing a 17-year prison sentence has been hit with a federal gun charge, court records show.
Terrance King, 30, was arrested after police received a tip he was coming to the Bay Area from Southern California in search of whoever killed his brother in Oakland, while King was still in prison. When authorities caught up to him in San Leandro, he was allegedly carrying a satchel with an AK-47-style pistol and attempted to evade arrest, prosecutors allege.
King was initially charged with a probation violation and illegal gun possession, but now he faces a federal charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. In a bid to keep King in jail while the case is pending, prosecutors not only referred to him as an Oakland “gang leader” but also said that ballistics examiners found a “preliminary correlation” between the gun and three prior shootings that occurred before King’s release, including a June 19 mass shooting in Oakland.
King’s attorney in the state case filed court papers saying he came to the Bay Area to round up his family and leave the area, not for a nefarious purpose.
A federal magistrate signed off on King’s detention, citing the facts of the case and King’s alleged gang membership.
King was among 17 alleged members of the Oakland-based Case Gang arrested in 2013. The defendants faced charges ranging from robbery and assault to pimping, and King eventually took a plea deal and a 17-year sentence, records show.
Last April, King’s 25-year-old brother, Hodari Lyons, was shot and killed on the 6900 block of Hamilton Street in East Oakland. When prison officials and authorities learned that Lyons was King’s brother, a group of law enforcement officials from Oakland police, the California Department Of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and a parole officer met with King in prison to dissuade him from retaliating, according to authorities.
King paroled into Southern California on June 28. By July 1, police say, he had removed his ankle monitor and was wanted on a so-called parolee-at-large warrant.
OAKLAND — After being arrested at a Bay Area beach, a man and woman have been charged in connection with a recent quadruple shooting here, court records show.
DeJuan Pickens, 34, of Concord, was charged Thursday with two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. The charges stem from the Aug. 17 Oakland shooting that resulted in two deaths and two injuries.
On the same criminal complaint, 33-year-old Rebecca Taylor, of Oakland, was charged with helping Pickens escape. She faces a felony count of accessory after the fact.
Both defendants are being held without bail and were advised of the charges at their first court hearings on Thursday, records show.
Police say the shooting resulted from an argument between Taylor and three other people, near Taylor’s apartment on the 1600 block of 83rd Avenue in East Oakland. Pickens was there and saw that one of the involved parties — police haven’t said who — had a gun on them, according to court records.
Pickens then retrieved a gun from a satchel and opened fire at the three people Taylor was arguing with, as well as the fourth armed person, authorities said. After the shooting, the two fled but were eventually arrested at McNears Beach in Marin County on Aug. 19, records show.
The two homicide victims have been identified in court papers as Waltrice Dilliehunt and Tyrell Bland. Their ages weren’t immediately available.
After her arrest, Taylor “provided a full confession” to police and admitted to helping Pickens flee, police said in court papers. Pickens refused to talk to authorities and asked for a lawyer.
The two surviving victims required hospitalization, authorities said.
Police are expected to announce the charges at a news conference set for noon on Friday.
SAN JOSE – Burned human remains were discovered at a homeless encampment Monday in San Jose, according to authorities.
A person reported finding the remains near Roberts Avenue and Vintage Way while searching for a missing family member, San Jose police Officer Tanya Hernandez said in a news release.
Evidence at the scene suggested the victim was murdered, according to Hernandez.
“This event is being investigated as the city’s 21st homicide of 2024,” Hernandez said.
San Jose police had investigated the same number of homicides at this time last year.
The Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office will release the victim’s identity after it is confirmed and their next of kin is notified, according to Hernandez.
Anyone with information related to the case can contact Detective Sgt. Ivan Barragan at 4106@sanjoseca.gov or Detective Catherine Van Brande at 4542@sanjoseca.gov, or both at 408-277-5283. Tips can also be left with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408-947-7867 or at siliconvalleycrimestoppers.org.
SAN MATEO COUNTY – A 19-year-old Pleasanton man was arrested last week on suspicion of sexually assaulting a teenage girl in San Mateo County, according to authorities.
After the incident was reported in July, deputies with the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office used automated license plate reader technology, social media and “other investigative methods” to identity the suspect, the sheriff’s office said in a news release Tuesday.
An investigation revealed the suspect used social media applications to engage in hundreds of inappropriate conversations with underage girls, according to the sheriff’s office.
The suspect “would often drive to the victims or request they take public transportation to meet him in person,” the sheriff’s office said, adding that many of the conversations included the exchange of “child sexual abuse material.”
He also used fake names including John Kelly and Josh Foire, according to the sheriff’s office.
On Aug. 15, the sheriff’s office worked with the Pleasanton Police Department to find and arrest the suspect.
The sheriff’s office said the suspect was booked into the Maguire Correctional Facility in Redwood City on charges of sexual penetration with a person under 18, assault with intent to commit a felony, arranging to meet with a minor for lewd purposes, contacting a minor to commit a felony and sending harmful material to seduce a minor.
Investigators believe there may be additional victims, according to the sheriff’s office. Anyone with information related to the case can contact Detective Nicole Pitts at 650-363-4060 or npitts@smcgov.org, or the anonymous tip line at 800-547-2700.
SANTA CLARA COUNTY – About 70 pounds of crystal methamphetamine was seized during a traffic stop last week on Highway 152, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The incident happened around 3:35 p.m. on Aug. 2, when a K-9 officer pulled over a pickup truck for a traffic violation east of Casa de Fruta, the CHP said in a news release Tuesday. The truck was traveling westbound, toward Gilroy, at the time.
According to the CHP, the officer “noted several factors that led him to believe the driver was engaged in criminal activity.” The officer also determined the driver was unlicensed.
The officer used his canine partner, Rudi, to search the exterior of the truck and “received a positive alert,” the CHP said.
A search of the pickup truck’s interior turned up about 70 pounds of crystal methamphetamine with an estimated street value of $82,000, according to the CHP.
The driver – identified as a 37-year-old Los Banos man – was arrested and booked into Santa Clara County jail on charges of possession of methamphetamine for sale and transportation of methamphetamine.
SAN MATEO — An assault Friday morning in San Mateo ended in the victim shooting and injuring his attacker, police said.
The incident happened around 7:55 a.m. near the intersection of 19th Avenue and Grant Street, according to the San Mateo Police Department.
Police said the suspect drove a U-Haul box truck to where the victim had parked his car and the two got into an argument. At one point, the suspect retrieved a metal pipe from the truck and hit the victim in the head and arms, according to police.
The victim, who was armed with a pistol, shot and injured the suspect, police said.
The suspect stopped attacking the victim, got back into the U-Haul and reversed toward the victim, nearly running him over and crashing into his car, according to police.
Police said the suspect was later found at a hospital in Palo Alto, where he remains in stable condition.
The victim, meanwhile, was treated for his injuries at an area hospital and released.
An investigation is underway into the incident.
Anyone with information related to the case can contact Detective Andre Malott at 650-522-7654 or amalott@cityofsanmateo.org.
