Press Releases

Major Crime Spree 

Berkeley police arrested two men late Tuesday morning after a vicious crime spree that left one man in critical condition. 

Police were summoned to the 1300 block of Virginia Street at 11:22 a.m. Tuesday responding to a report of a street robbery in progress. 

Before officers arrived, the two suspects forced their way into a house on the same block, where they shot and critically wounded the homeowner during the course of an attempted robbery. 

The pair then headed to Chestnut Street, where they attempted to hijack a car, pistol-whipping the driver before fleeing to the 1500 block of Belvedere Street, where one pulled a pistol as they carjacked a station wagon driven by a 58-year-old woman. 

The woman escaped on foot without injury, Okies said. 

Arriving officers spotted the woman’s station wagon with the two men inside and gave pursuit. The suspects turned onto Hearst Avenue. When they attempted to execute a fast turn eastbound onto Grant Street, they slammed into a parked car, where officers arrested them and recovered a pistol from the stolen car. 

The two suspects, Sherman Fuller Bailey, 53, of Richmond, and Ollie Jean Pope, 49, of San Pablo, were charged with robbery, attempted carjacking, carjacking and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon. 

The gunshot victim was rushed to Highland Hospital, where he was reported in critical condition, said Officer Okies.  

Robbery, Sex Assault 

Police in Berkeley and Oakland are seeking a young man who picked up a handicapped woman in Oakland, then robbed her and forced her to perform oral sex on him before dropping her off near James Kinney Park at Seventh and Virginia streets at 1 a.m. last Saturday. 

Officer Okies said the suspect was a thin brown-haired Caucasian man in his 20s who was wearing an orange shirt and driving a white van. 

Stabbed and Kidnapped 

Responding to calls that a club-wielding man was dragging a woman down the 1200 block of Evelyn Avenue, Berkeley police arrived on the scene shortly after 1 p.m. Tuesday. 

They found a 41-year-old man armed with both a golf club and a baseball bat, said Officer Okies. 

The suspect’s 25-year-old companion said the man had stabbed her earlier in the day, and the suspect was booked on charges of assault with a deadly weapon, kidnapping and domestic violence. 

As the officers secured their prisoner, the woman fled, said Officer Okies. 

MP3 Robbery 

A large, heavily built teenager robbed a 25-year-old man of his MP3 music player as he was walking in the 1800 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Way just before 5 p.m. Tuesday. 

Another Robbery 

Berkeley police are seeking the very tall bandit who robbed a 69-year-old man of his jewelry and cash shortly after 10 p.m. Tuesday in the 2900 block of Mabel Street. 

The victim described the suspect as an six-foot six-inch African-American man in his 30s who weighs about 300 pounds. He was last seen fleeing in a light-colored 1980s model Chevrolet sedan, said Officer Okies. ›