Berkeley police release video, details in deadly domestic violence shooting at car dealership
BERKELEY – Authorities released additional details, including video, in connection with a domestic violence shooting that left a woman and the suspect dead at an East Bay car dealership in September.
On the morning of September 21, police were called to the Toyota of Berkeley service center located on Eastshore Highway in Albany around 11:15 a.m. on reports of an active shooter. Both officers from Berkeley and Albany responded.
In an update on Friday, Berkeley Police released surveillance and body camera video of the incident. Due to its graphic nature, viewer discretion is advised.
Police spokesperson Jessica Perry said in the video that 24-year-old Lamar Walker of Vacaville entered the building and shot 24-year-old Alonna Gallon, an employee at the dealership.
Security footage obtained by police showed Walker approach Gallon, who was sitting at her desk, and shoot her at point-blank range. He then turned the gun on himself in a suicide attempt, police said.
After officers directed employees out of the dealership, they learned that the victim and the shooter were in the second floor of the building. Once determining that there was no active gunfire, officers then searched the property.
When police reached the second floor, body-worn camera video along with surveillance video showed Walker pointing a gun at officers. Police said in a statement Friday that five officers discharged their firearms in response, striking Walker.
Officers found Gallon deceased from an apparent gunshot wound on the floor next to Walker. Emergency responders provided first aid but both people were pronounced dead at the scene.
At the time of the shooting, witnesses said the victim and shooter knew each other. The Alameda County Sheriff's Office determined that the incident was an act of domestic violence and that they were in a relationship.
"What we know right now for certain that this was not a random crime," Perry said in the video released by the department on Friday. "Ms. Gallon's death was a senseless act of violence that left a young boy without his mother, a child she was co-parenting with Mr. Walker."
Police said the incident remains under investigation by the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, the Albany Police Department and the Alameda County District Attorney's Office Officer-Involved Shooting Team. A parallel internal investigation by the Berkeley Police Department is also ongoing.