3 Killed In Oakland As City Changes Course On Crime Fighting
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- Three people were killed in two separate incidents in Oakland overnight, just hours after city officials announced the hiring of a high-profile adviser to the force.
Officers responded to reports of a shooting in the 800 block of Mead Avenue around 1 a.m., where they found two people shot to death, according to police.
Police said Darrell Johnson, 21, of Oakland, and Keith Davis, 19, of El Sobrante, were the victims of the shooting.
No arrests have been made and police said they do not know the motive for the shooting.
Oakland Police Investigating 3 Early Morning Homicides, City In Safety Crisis
Police said that around 2:30 a.m., police were called to a report of a stabbing in the 5800 block of Walnut Street. The victim had been stabbed to death.
The three killings bring the number of homicides in Oakland this year to 130, the highest total since 2006.
According to police Chief Howard Jordan, five of the homicides have been ruled to have been justified, leaving Oakland with 125 criminal homicides so far in 2012.
The latest homicides happened just hours after city officials announced the hiring of William Bratton as an advisor to the police department on Thursday afternoon. Bratton is credited with shaping up New York and L.A.'s police departments resulting in double digit crime drops. Oakland has seen 130-murders so far this year marking a four-year high for the city's homicide rate.
Civil Rights attorney John Burris, a long time critic of the OPD is encouraged at Bratton's input but he worries about there being too many cooks in the kitchen.
"We have a police chief. We're getting ready to hire a compliance director. We have a monitor that's under the direction of the courts and now we have an additional consultant," Burris said.
He worries there could be uncertainty or confusion amongst the ranks as to who's in control. "When you bring someone in who's very talented, then hopefully their talent can be utilized in a constructive way," Burris added.
He did commend the city for turning to much needed help to address a more than 20 percent jump in murders robberies and rapes this year.
(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
