Oakland police held a news conference Sunday to debate details of a deadly shooting in West Oakland Saturday evening.
The shooting occurred at DeFremery Park near the 1600 block of Adeline Street around 7:30 p.m. during a McClymonds Alumni Action Committee picnic.
Deputy Chief Frederick Shavies said the victim, a McClymonds High School graduate, was two days away from his thirty ninth birthday when he was killed. Police didn’t release his identity or a motive for the shooting.
Shavies said the death was the seventieth homicide this 12 months.
“Multi-generational community members held parties in the park,” Shavies said. “Unfortunately, after 7:30 p.m., shots were fired in the middle of the park.”
He said investigators imagine there can have been multiple shooter on the event.
“We are grateful that no one else was harmed at this crowded, family-friendly event,” Shavies added.
“I would like to direct my heart, my prayers and my thoughts to the victims,” Mayor Sheng Thao said during a news conference Sunday morning. “Not just for the victim’s family members, but also for those who were there that day and were terrorized. There is no place for violence here in the city of Oakland. This is an annual event where we have witnessed peaceful gatherings of the McClymonds High alumni group year after year. It is unreasonable for someone… to take someone’s life during a party.”
Community members and volunteers were on site Sunday cleansing up the realm after the shooting left the place in disarray.
Thao said the college will offer grief counseling to those traumatized by the shooting.
“I also want to acknowledge that there are community leaders here in the city. We have resources for great grief counselors,” Thao said.
Oakland police are asking anyone who can have details concerning the shooting to call 510-238-3821.
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