Features

May 13 

A 50-year-old Berkeley man called police to report that someone shot at him while he was driving in the 2100 block of Eighth Street at 12:16 a.m, said Berkeley police spokesperson Ed Galvan. The man, who received minor injuries from flying glass, said he had no idea who shot at him or why. 

A resident of Hearst Avenue called police at 10:35 p.m. to report that a man was swinging a club at passersby in Ohlone Park near the corner of Hearst and Sacramento Street. 

Police found one man who had been struck but not seriously injured, and another woman who had been attacked. They also found the bat-man, a 25-year-old man with serious mental problems. He was taken away for psychiatric observation. 

May 17 

An 18-year-old Berkeley woman called police to report that the night before, she had been confronted by a menacing man uttering threats who convinced her to hand over her purse after he approached her near the corner of Durant and Telegraph avenues. 

At 5:41 p.m., a pharmacist at United Pharmacy at 2929 Telegraph Ave. called officers to report that a gunman had just left the store, making off with narcotics the clerk had handed over after the gunman threatened to pistol-whip him. 

A 54-year-old Berkeley man called police at 6:27 p.m., moments after one of three young would-be carjackers who confronted him in the 1600 block of Woolsey Street struck him with a pistol and tried to make off with his car. 

The man kept his wheels, and a prompt response by police resulted in the arrest of a 19-year-old Berkeley man, identified as the ringleader, on suspicion of attempted carjacking. 

May 18 

After hearing shouts and spotting a fight occurring nearby, callers told police at 8:35 p.m. that a fight was breaking out in the 2500 block of McGee Avenue. 

Officers arrived to find that a group of young men had approached a couple as they were walking and grabbed the man’s wallet. He set out in pursuit and managed to recover his wallet. Officers found the suspects during a canvass of the area, but the robbed man, having recovered his wallet, declined to press charges against the youths. 

A 24-year-old woman called police at 10:28 p.m. to report that a man professing to be packing a pistol had demanded her hot pink purse as she was walking near the corner of Durant Avenue and Ellsworth Street. 

A search of the area turned up the purse, with most—but not all—of her belongings intact. 

May 22 

A Berkeley woman called police at 8:45 p.m. to report that her 16-year-old daughter had just been sexually assaulted. Police are looking for the suspect, who has been identified. 

An 18-year old Oakland woman reported that a pair of strong-arm bandits had stolen her purse as she was walking near the corner of Russell Street and Telegraph Avenue about 1:40 a.m. The pair departed in a white Honda Civic. 

Three young bandits, ages about 13, robbed a 10-year-old of his belongings by landing a punch or two and threatening to add more, shortly after 3:30 p.m. near the corner of Francisco Street and Franklin Avenue. 

A gang of four women in their late teens beat a La Honda woman and stole her belongings near the corner of Regent and Russell streets just before 7:30 p.m. The four were last seen fleeing in a green Toyota four-door. Their victim declined medical aid. 

May 23 

Two men in their 20s came up behind a Berkeley woman as she walked in the 2500 block of Ninth Street and demanded her purse at 12:45 a.m. 

Their mission accomplished, the pair fled and was last seen running from the scene on Dwight Way.