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Two wounded in early morning southside shooting

By Hank SimsDaily Planet staff
Wednesday January 23, 2002

Two people were shot in the head and gravely wounded near the corner of King and 63rd streets early Tuesday. 

According to Lt. Cynthia Harris of the Berkeley Police Department, the department began receiving telephone calls about shots being fired in the south Berkeley neighborhood around 2:40 a.m. 

When police arrived on the scene, they found the victims in a car parked on the east side of King Street. The victims – whose names the BPD declined to release pending notification of their next of kin – were transported to Highland Hospital. 

A spokesperson for Highland said the two were in “very critical condition” late Tuesday afternoon. 

Two people were seen fleeing the scene on foot going northwest, according to Harris, who said the BPD has no physical descriptions of the suspects. 

Residents of the block were reluctant to discuss the crime later Tuesday morning. 

One woman who lives next to the crime scene said she did not hear the shots, but woke when police cars began arriving in the neighborhood. 

She said she looked out her window and saw a “swarm” of police around what looked like a late-model Honda or Acura. 

The neighbor said police woke her again around 7:45 a.m. to question her.  

“I don’t hang out around here,” she said. “I just go to the store, get my things and go home.” 

Lt. Harris said there was no known gang activity in the neighborhood. She added, though, that there had previously been several drug-related crimes in the area.