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Tag: oakland shooting

  • Oakland: ‘Scrappy’ bragged about killing ‘Mini Jug’ before ‘Bubba’ and ‘Frog’ killed him, police say

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    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.

    Originally Published:

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    Nate Gartrell

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  • Murder case dismissed against suspect in Oakland Uber driver’s killing during robbery

    Murder case dismissed against suspect in Oakland Uber driver’s killing during robbery

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    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.

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    Nate Gartrell

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