FBI Identifies Federal Officer Killed Near Oakland Friday Night Protest
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Sunday appealed to the public for tips as it investigates the shooting at the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building in downtown Oakland Friday night that killed one federal officer and wounded another.
The officer killed was identified as Dave Patrick Underwood, 53, of Pinole, the agency said in an update Sunday.
Underwood and another officer were struck by shots fired from a vehicle that pulled up at the building at 1301 Clay St. about 9:45 p.m.
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Although the shooting happened while a large protest was taking place nearby in downtown Oakland, authorities have not said whether it was connected.
In a statement to KPIX, the FBI said the incident occurred at around 9:45 p.m.
"A vehicle approached the building," the statement read. "An individual inside the vehicle began firing shots at contracted security officers for the Federal Protection Service of the Department of Homeland Security. One officer was killed and another injured."
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The Oakland police tweeted Friday night that they did not believe the shooting was related to the violence that would later break out on the nearby streets during a demonstration sparked by the police custody death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
In an email to KPIX 5 early Saturday, Oakland police spokeswoman Johnna Watson could not confirm the tweet - "Still under investigation, unknown if related.
At a news conference in Washington, DHS Acting Secretary Chad Wolf called the slaying of the officer an assassination.
"As of late we have witnessed an outright assault on our law enforcement community," Wolf said. "Last night in Oakland, California, an assassin cowardly shot two Federal Protective Service contractors as they stood watch over a protest. One officer was killed, the other is in critical condition...Let me express my deepest condolences to the family members of these two FPS contractors."
Ken Cuccinelli, acting deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, called acts like the Oakland shooting an "act of domestic terrorism."
"Let me be clear," he said. "When someone targets a police officer or a police station with an intention to due harm and intimidate that is an act of domestic terrorism. Fighting terrorism was the very reason for the founding of the Department of Homeland Security. And I said earlier we will stand behind out law enforcement officers here in the department and all over America."
No motive has been determined and no arrests have been made.
Because both victims were on federal property and working on duty as contract security officers for the Department of Homeland Security Federal Protective Service, the San Francisco office of the FBI is the lead agency in the investigation, in conjunction with the Oakland Police Department and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Any tips or information about the shooting can be made anonymously at tips.fbi.gov.
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