Oakland pastor calls slaying of Officer Tuan Le "a wake-up call" for troubled East Bay city
An Oakland pastor on Wednesday told KPIX the city's lack of a police chief to lead the department and the lax prosecution of Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price are contributing to rise in violent crime in the city.
Sources tell KPIX that at least seven suspects have been arrested in connection with the case, including the suspected gunman, 27-year-old Mark Sanders. Sanders was arrested in Livermore early Tuesday morning.
The Oakland Police Department is set to provide an update in Officer Le's case Wednesday evening.
Officer Le was fatally shot on Dec. 29 after he and other officers were responding to a burglary at a suspected illegal marijuana grow house at Embarcadero and 4th Avenue in Oakland.
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Police say Officer Le was working undercover that night and responded in an unmarked police pick-up truck. Sources tell KPIX, at some point as the suspects were trying to get away, at least one of them opened fire. Le was struck in the head and crashed the unmarked vehicle he was driving into two other parked cars. He died at the hospital a few hours later.
"We can't continue on the course we are on. Something needs to change," Bishop Bob Jackson told KPIX. Jackson is the pastor at Acts Full Gospel Church in Oakland and a pillar in the community. He says the death of this officer should be a wake-up call to the community.
"I've been here 78 years, and I have never seen Oakland look the way it's looking, and the people acting the way they're acting. I'm talking about the people who are committing all of these crimes. I've never seen that before," said Jackson.
He says many of the city's crime problems stem from two sources. First is the fact OPD has been without a permanent chief of police since Mayor Sheng Thao fired former Chief LeRonne Armstrong in February of 2023. The city is now no closer to hiring a chief, as Mayor Thao recently rejected the all three of the candidates put forward by the police commission.
He also says District Attorney Pamela Price is not doing enough to hold criminals accountable for their actions.
"It's been evident that she hasn't been prosecuting these perpetrators that are doing these heinous crimes and it seems like she's giving them a free pass," said Jackson.
Price has faced severe criticism for her office's handling of high-profile cases, including in the murder of toddler Jasper Wu and Home Depot loss prevention employee Blake Mohs. The district attorney has also faced pushback among residents frustrated about crime during recent town hall meetings in Oakland and Fremont. Price is currently the subject of a heated recall campaign.
Officer Tuan Le's murder is the first death in the line of duty among Oakland Police Department personnel since 2009 and the 54th in the city's history.
On Thursday morning, all of the suspects in the murder case of Oakland Police Officer Tuan Le will make their first court appearances. At the time the courts closed Wednesday, the DA's office had not submitted the official charging documents for the suspects.
That will have to happen Thursday morning before the scheduled court appearance.