OAKLAND — A person was fatally shot while driving near Lake Merritt on Sunday and plowed his vehicle into a close-by motel car parking zone, making a public crime scene but there was no immediate clarity as to why he was attacked, authorities said.
According to Oakland police, the driving force was traveling east on Lake Merritt Boulevard past twelfth Street – near the Rene C. Davidson Courthouse – around 11:55 a.m. when he was shot by an unknown assailant.
The wounded man drove his Honda Odyssey minivan a few half-mile further and crashed through the fence of an Americas Best Value Inn motel, half a block south of Lake Merritt Boulevard and East twelfth Street. The vehicle crashed into two parked cars within the motel car parking zone before coming to a stop.
The driver, who was the only occupant of the minivan, was pronounced dead on the scene. His name has not been publicly released pending his official identification and notification of his next of kin by the Alameda County Coroner's Bureau.
The aftermath of the accident was visible from the motel's sidewalk: twisted metal from the fence — including a chunk stuck within the front of the minivan — and various automotive debris strewn across the asphalt, while a yellow tarp was draped over the passenger side. Police officers may be seen retrieving shell casings from the shooting site a couple of dozen meters away.
Police haven’t disclosed the motive or circumstances resulting in the shooting, nor have they released an outline of the suspect. They confirmed that the victim was shot from the surface of his vehicle, but it surely was not immediately clear whether the shots got here from one other vehicle or one other vantage point resembling the sidewalk or roadway.
No other injuries were reported in reference to Sunday's shooting. It was the twenty eighth homicide of the yr that Oakland police have been investigating. The department had investigated 34 homicides at the identical time in 2023.
Anyone with information for OPD investigators can call 510-238-3821, leave a tip at 510-238-7950 or contact Crime Stoppers of Oakland at 510-777-8572.
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