Features

Two Men Shot in Sacramento Street Attack

By Richard Brenneman
Friday November 24, 2006

Two men—and possibly a third—were shot Tuesday night as gunfire shattered the evening on Sacramento Street. 

Police were able to locate two of the victims, who were rushed by Berkeley Fire Department ambulance to Highland Hospital, where both are expected to recover, said Berkeley police spokesperson Office Ed Galvan. 

The third victim—if he exists—remained at large. 

Information is scanty, Galvan said, because neither victim is cooperating with detectives and potential eyewitnesses said they didn’t see anything. 

“We don’t have any descriptions of suspects or of getaway vehicles,” Galvan said. 

The city’s emergency switchboard “began lighting up” at 8:16 p.m. with reports of shots fired with injuries outside of Bob's Liquors & Deli at 2842 Sacramento St., Galvan said. 

When emergency responders arrived, one victim was found collapsed on the sidewalk near the store, and a second was found near where he’d been hit as he attempted to flee into a nearby clothing store. 

Neighbor Laura Menard said the attack took place outside Penny’s Caribbean restaurant at 2836 Sacramento. 

Menard said both victims lived nearby, which Galvan confirmed. The young men are 20- and 24-years-old, Galvan said. 

He declined to confirm Menard’s contention that the pair may have been in contact with Oakland drug dealers who have been moving into an area already staked out by neighborhood dealers. 

“What was going on that night we don’t know yet,” Galvan said Wednesday afternoon. 

Tuesday’s attack came scarcely a month after another shooting less than two blocks to the east at 1610 Oregon St. 

In the incident, a 19-year-old San Leandro man was shot in the back in the rear yard of a home at 1610 Oregon St. previously identified by Berkeley narcotics detectives as a major source of neighborhood drug dealing. 

The young man is recovering from his injuries. 

Menard said Tuesday’s shooting raised new concerns from neighbors worried about open drug dealing and other crimes in the area. 

“We have requested a meeting with a few key business and community members and officials from the police department and city manager’s office,” said Menard. “We are going to ask them to carry out specific actions.” 

One person not invited is City Councilmember Max Anderson, who defeated Menard when the two of them ran for the district’s council seat two years ago. 

Menard and Anderson have clashed over the demands of Menard and other neighbors that the city seize the house where the Oregon Street shooting occurred. 

The Nov. 17 shooting was the second act of violence at the house this year. On Feb. 8, police arrested a 17-year-old woman, a relative of owner, after she allegedly stabbed her boyfriend in the back of the head. Those injuries were also non-lethal.