Features

Man Shot at Troubled Oregon Street Residence

By Richard Brenneman
Friday October 20, 2006

The long-running saga of the house at 1610 Oregon St. took another twist Tuesday morning with the backyard shooting of a 19-year-old San Leandro man. 

It was the second violent crime at the home this year. 

Identified by Berkeley police in court testimony as a haven for drug dealing, the home has been the subject of numerous complaints and lawsuits by neighbors who charge that it is a public nuisance. 

Tuesday’s shooting, which left the young man with a wound that didn’t endanger his life, was first reported to police at 10:28 a.m. when a 911 caller reported hearing a single gunshot. 

Officers and paramedics arrived moments later to find the shooting victim in the rear yard. As some officers—including at least one armed with an assault rifle—searched the neighborhood for a shooter, others worked the crime scene and talked to the injured man and neighbors. 

Owner Lenora Moore, 76, was not home at the time of the shooting, neighbors said, but arrived several minutes after officers arrived. 

“The victim’s injuries were not life-threatening,” reported Berkeley police spokesperson Officer Ed Galvan. “He said he didn’t see who shot him. He only heard the shot and felt it.” 

The injured man was taken by paramedics to a local hospital, the officer said, “and he should be home today,” Galvan said Thursday afternoon. 

The officer said the injured man was a regular visitor at the Moore house, “but I don’t know if he’s part of the family.” 

As a reporter snapped photographs of the scene, one of the occupants of the house, a younger woman, stormed out, threatening violence until a police officer intervened. 

On Feb. 8, police arrested a 17-year-old woman, a relative of Moore, after she allegedly stabbed her boyfriend in the back of the head. Those injuries were also non-lethal. The woman was charged with assault with a deadly weapon and domestic abuse. 

Moore has been sued repeatedly by neighbors who have contended that she allows the home to be used by drug dealers, claims supported by police testimony, including one investigator who called the home “the most notorious drug house in southwest Berkeley.” 

Police have made numerous arrests of  

Moore’s relations for drug deals outside the house, and neighbors contend the house is a magnet for violence. 

Plaintiffs won their small claims court actions against Moore, most recently in January, when Alameda County Court Commissioner Jon Rantzman awarded 14 of them $5,000 apiece—a total of $70,000. 

While Moore had avoided payment of an earlier judgment by declaring bankruptcy, neighbor and plaintiff Laura Menard said she had taken out a new mortgage and was paying off the judgment from the most recent suit.