UPDATE: Community Gathers To Heal After Terrifying Juneteenth Mass Shooting At Oakland's Lake Merritt
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- A community gathered to say 'enough is enough,' after a terrifying mass shooting at Oakland's Lake Merritt during Saturday's Juneteenth celebration.
The Alameda County Coroner's Office on Tuesday afternoon identified the man who died in the shooting as 22-year-old Dashawn Rhoades.
Rhaodes brings the number to 60 lives lost to gun violence, so far, this year in the city.
On Tuesday night, the community stood together to honor Rhoades's life. A vigil of more than 200 people at Lake Merritt was held just a short distance away from the shooting.
"We all know what happened here on Juneteenth and that is not a reflection of who we are. At all," said Oakland City Councilmember Carol Fife.
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The mass shooting during Juneteenth festivities at Lake Merritt on Saturday also injured seven other victims. Rhoades was the only fatality in the incident.
Guillermo Cespedes, Oakland's Chief of Violence Prevention says, "It hurts like hell because so many people are losing their lives but we're going to fix this."
Speakers spread the message of hope as they urged the community to come together. It was a message that resonated with the crowd.
"Oakland is much more than what we see on the news. We can get together, we can band together, we can unite. We can honor the lives that were lost but we can also create change," says Kaila Mathis with the Urban Peace Movement.
On Monday, Oakland authorities said two warring gangs from San Francisco appeared to be responsible for the deadly incident on the 2200 block of Lakeshore Drive.
The sheriff's office said Rhoades was a resident of Oakland and San Francisco.
Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong said his investigators were working with San Francisco police to find those responsible for the shooting a crowded event at Lake Merritt. One person was killed and seven others were injured; Armstrong said it's believed the same group is responsible for multiple recent shootings.
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"We believe this was directly related to group and gang violence and group and gang violence not even connected to the city of Oakland," said Armstrong. "This appears to be group and gang violence related to the city of San Francisco."
There were about 10,000 people all around Lake Merritt for several different events, with some 5,000 people in the area where the shooting happened. The event was a day-long gathering to commemorate Juneteenth.
The victims ranged in age from 16 to mid-60s, police said.
Armstrong said most of the people involved in the shooting were from outside Oakland and investigators are looking for more than one shooter.
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"Our homicide investigators have determined that the individuals responsible were multiple shooters, not just one," said Armstrong. "We've learned over the last couple of days that several people fired weapons during this event."
Oakland Police Lt. Leo Sanchez said while some of the victims had been specifically targeted in the shooting, other victims had no connection to the gang activity.
"This investigation is still in its early stages, but I think some of the individuals who were shot and are injured -- including the individual who unfortunately passed away -- I believe were targeted individuals. Those are the individuals who appear to have some gang or group connections with San Francisco," said Sanchez. "There are individuals also just part of the festivities, part of the gathering and caught up in crossfire as well."
Police have yet to announce any information about possible descriptions of the suspects in the shooting. The investigation into the incident is ongoing.
Andrea Nakano contributed to this report.
