Features

Police Blotter By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday September 13, 2005

Former Berkeley student slain 

Armon Green, an 18-year-old man who Oakland Police said had attended Berkeley schools, was fatally shot Saturday night in the West Oakland neighborhood where his family lives. 

The young man was gunned down about 8:40 p.m. at the corner of 12th and Peralta streets. Multiple shots were fired, several striking two cars parked in the area. Police said they have not been able to determine the motive for the slaying in a neighborhood which has seen several shootings in recent weeks, though none with injuries. 

 

September 2 

Three bandits, one of them armed with a pistol and another with a crowbar, shoved a cyclist off his wheels in the 1200 block of Peralta Avenue just before 8 p.m., relieving him of his cash and backpack, said Officer Okies. 

At about the same time as the Peralta Avenue crime, a rat pack of four or five young men kicked and robbed a 20-year-old man in the 2300 block of Channing Way. 

Another suspect was apprehended that evening. A man who had hit another fellow on the head with a stick in the 1200 block of Ashby Avenue was booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon shortly after the incident which occurred an hour after the first two crimes. 

 

September 3 

Two large men punched a pedestrian from behind in the 2400 block of Prince Street at about 1 a.m. and fled eastbound on Prince with his wallet, said Officer Okies. 

An attempted purse snatch about 8 p.m. near the corner of Parker and regent streets turned into an attempted strong-arm robbery when the 25-year-old victim refused to let go, setting off a tug of war she eventually won. 

An argument that escalated into a fracas near the corner of Fairview and Sacramento streets shortly before 11:30 p.m. took a more dangerous turn when one of the young men pulled a knife, inflicting what proved to be a minor injury on another young man. 

The alleged knife-fighter, a 19-year-old, was booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. 

 

September 4  

Police arrested a 22-year-old woman on suspicion of strong-arm robbery at 3:21 p.m. after she allegedly robbed and assaulted a 15-year-old youth near the corner of Shattuck Avenue and Center Street. 

 

September 5  

Crime didn’t take a holiday on Labor Day.  

When a drug peddler kicked off the holiday by approaching a pedestrian near the corner of Solano and Tacoma avenues at 1 a.m., he wouldn’t take no for an answer. 

After his offer to sell intoxicants was spurned, the dealer whipped out a knife and robbed the fellow, said Berkeley Police spokesperson Officer Joe Okies. The suspect remains at large. 

Another holiday bandit, described as between 19 and 20 years of age, punched a 61-year-old man near the corner of Stanton and Russell streets 12 hours later, making off with his valuables. 

He too was not apprehended. 

A third Labor Day thief was less fortunate. A citizen called 911 to report that a fellow was breaking into cars on Ellsworth Street near the corner of Durant Avenue. 

The arrival of the black-and-whites prompted the 41-year-old suspect to attempt to make “foot bail” with a computer he’d swiped from one of the cars. 

Officers set out in pursuit, and quickly caught their man, who sustained a minor injury to one hand as he attempted to avoid capture. The computer was saved for its rightful owner. 

Though the two men who robbed and assaulted a 21-year-old motorist near the corner of Seventh and Addison streets shortly before 1 a.m. weren’t able to complete their attempted carjacking, they did make off with their victim’s wallet, cash and credit cards, as well as some of his stereo equipment, said Officer Okies.  

Two bandits in their early 20s robbed a man in his early 40s in the 2200 block of San Pablo Avenue just before 8 p.m., dislocating his shoulder in the process. They remain at large.  

 

September 6 

Burglars entered a home in the 2500 block of Regent Street sometime before 7:30 p.m. and made off with $1,400 in cash, a $340 money order and $2,000 worth of jewelry belonging to a 23-year-old Berkeley woman. 

 

September 8 

Arriving for work at a construction site near the corner of Eighth and Gilman streets Thursday morning, workers discovered that someone had broken into locked storage containers and made off with their tools. 

The owner of Berkeley Tanning at 2359 Telegraph Ave. called police at 2:39 p.m. to report his suspicions that an employee had been embezzling cash from the business. 

 

September 9 

A 50-year-old Berkeley woman called police from a gas station at Ninth Street and Ashby Avenue at 6:48 a.m. to report that she had been attacked by a man in his late 20s about a half hour earlier who had grabbed her from behind, exposed himself and briefly held her. 

A 42-year-old woman was accosted by a strong-arm robber in the 2100 block of Ninth Street about 3:30 p.m. and relieved of her cash. 

Berkeley Police arrested two boys, ages 14 and 15, after the police were flagged down in the 1900 block of Allston Way outside Berkeley High School by a citizen who reported a fire in a trash can. A quick investigation turned up to the two teens, who were booked on suspicion of arson. 

A gang of six youths aged between 13 and 15 accosted a 19-year-old man near the corner of Channing Way and Fulton Street just after 9 p.m., punched him with their fists and made off with his wallet, said Officer Okies. 

A 26-year-old San Francisco man sustained critical injuries when he was shot in the face and thigh outside the Designer Brands 4 Less Shop at 3014 San Pablo Ave. about 10 p.m. Friday night. Witnesses told officers that two men had fled the scene in a black Mercedes station wagon. Police were keeping secret both the victim’s name and the location of the hospital where he is being treated. 

 

September 12 

Police arrested a 25-year-old man for burglary and possession of methamphetamine after a 5 a.m. pedestrian stop in the 2000 block of Kittredge Street. 

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