Extra

Berkeley police have held a homeless person in connection with gun shots fired at Martin Luther King Civic Center Park in downtown Berkeley Wednesday night.  

At approximately 9:45 p.m. a gunshot was heard in the vicinity of the park next to Berkeley City Hall. Within minutes at least 7 Berkeley police cars with, sirens blaring, reached the site and handcuffed a number of homeless men at the park.  

A woman who had been sleeping in the park ran away to the safety of the Maudelle Shirek building lawn, at 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way.  

“I heard gun shots,” said the woman, who refused to give her name for fear of retribution. “I jumped and got down in the dirt. I was just passing through and I heard the shots. I am from Brooklyn—you hear shots, you get down.”  

At the park Berkeley police officers were questioning two men they had handcuffed.  

BPD police officer Sgt. Hong told the Planet that a group of homeless men were arguing in the park, when one of them pulled out a handgun in the heat of the argument and fired a shot.  

“I don’t think he was targeting anybody,” Hong said. “Nobody is hurt. We have him in custody and the firearm as well.”  

Hong said a few other homeless men had been detained for questioning.  

At least two Berkeley Fire Department rescue trucks arrived at the scene 30 minutes later and paramedics brought a stretcher to the park. Around 10:24 p.m. paramedics carried a handcuffed man from the park into the van on the stretcher.