Relative Of Man Shot By Oakland Police Questions Why He Was Killed
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- Oakland police remained tight-lipped Friday about an officer-involved shooting late Wednesday night that left two suspects dead and one in custody.
Oakland Mayor Jean Quan brought Deputy Police Chief Eric Breshears to City Hall Friday for her weekly briefing with reporters but he declined to provide many details about the matter, saying it was "a pretty complicated incident" and is still under investigation.
Breshears said police responded to the 3000 block of Curran Avenue in the city's Upper Fruitvale area about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday because they had information that a violent crime would occur.
He said, "If we get information that a violent crime might happen, we can't not respond to it because there's the potential that it might be carried out."
Oakland police spokeswoman Holly Joshi said on Thursday that police believe the incident was gang-related, but Breshears backtracked from that Friday, saying he had "no comment" on whether there was a gang connection.
Breshears said officers found the suspects' vehicle and tried to make an investigative stop but "unfortunately the suspects didn't cooperate."
He said all three suspects got out of the car and two of them were armed.
Police said one of the armed suspects ran to a nearby yard and the other armed man confronted the officers and was shot.
The third suspect, who was unarmed, was also shot during a confrontation with officers, police said.
Medical aid was provided to the two suspects who were shot by officers but they died from their injuries, according to Joshi.
The armed suspect who ran from the scene wound up "some distance" away, but eventually was arrested after he was spotted by officers in a police helicopter, Breshears said.
The suspect, who wasn't injured, is being held on a parole violation, police said.
No police officers were injured, according to Joshi.
Breshears declined to release the names of the officers who shot and killed the two suspects. He also declined to release the names of the suspects, saying the families of the two suspects who were killed haven't yet been notified.
But the aunt of one of the two slain suspects said Fletcher "Antoine" Jackson, 30, was one of the men killed.
Jackson's aunt, Margie Turner, also said the other man killed was one of Jackson's best friends, John Sloan, who she estimated was in his late 20s or early 30s.
Turner described her nephew Friday as a lively, fun-loving person and expressed anger about the circumstances surrounding his death.
She said a neighbor who witnessed the confrontation said her nephew didn't have a chance to run.
"He was sitting in the car, and they opened fire on the car," Turner said.
Glass was shattered on the ground from the car windows, and Jackson was hit in the side, she said.
Officers threw him to the ground when he got out of the car, and by the time paramedics arrived and tried to put an oxygen mask on him, he was panicked and gasping for breath, the neighbor told Turner.
Jackson was later pronounced dead at Highland Hospital.
"(The neighbor) didn't want to tell me, but I had to know" the details, Turner said, her voice breaking.
She said the other man killed was Fletcher's best friend, John Sloan, who was also in his late 20s or early 30s.
Police said the initial tip was about gang activity, but Turner said her nephew was not a gang member.
He had been arrested for drug offenses and parole violations, but lately he had been living with his girlfriend Amber in El Cerrito and flipping cars to support himself, Turner said.
The couple has a 5-year-old son.
"He loved to have fun and loved cars," Turner said. "He'd go buy a car, fix it up, sell it, take the money and buy a couple more. He's changed. That was his passion, those cars."
Turner said she didn't know a lot about Sloan, but that he would hang out with the family and go to barbecues with them.
"He was a nice kid," she said.
She acknowledged that police have a difficult and dangerous job, but said it doesn't mean they can act like they have a "license to kill."
"What did they need to shoot (Jackson) for?" she said. "He didn't even get to run. People don't deserve to go down like animals."
Breshears said the shooting is being investigated by the Oakland Police Department's homicide and internal affairs units, as well as by the Alameda County District Attorney's Office, which is standard protocol for officer-involved shootings.
Quan said she is considering having an independent inspector general outside the Police Department investigate future officer-involved shootings.
"I want people to feel comfortable that there's an outside investigation because of the long history" of officer-involved shootings in Oakland, she said.
With Breshears sitting next to her, Quan said, "There's a history of mistrust" of Oakland police and that a recent survey indicated that 40 percent of city residents don't trust the police.
She said, "We're trying to bridge the gap" so more Oakland residents have faith in the Police Department.
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