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This i s from Sfgate : A man was shot and killed and his girlfriend was wounded in a shooting in Oakland, police said. Marco Casillas, 19, and his girlfriend, a 19-year-old woman whose name wasn't released, were found suffering from numerous gunshot wounds on the 4000 block of Santa Rita Street at about 10:45 p.m. Friday, said Officer Jeff Thomason, Oakland police spokesman. Both were taken to Highland Hospital in Oakland, where Casillas was pronounced dead. His girlfriend was reported to be in critical but stable condition, authorities said. A motive for the shooting was unknown, and no arrests have been reported in the slaying, Oakland's 103rd homicide this year. Meanwhile, a suspect has been arrested in the slaying of the city's 102nd homicide. Curtis Norris, 19, is being held without bail at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin in the shooting death of Edward Dismuke, 38, authorities said. Dismuke was riding a bicycle at about 9:50 p.m. Tuesday when he was shot near 38t

OAKLAND — A man was shot and wounded in a daylight shooting Thursday on busy International Boulevard. The shooting happened about 11:43 a.m. in the 4800 block of International Boulevard, police said. The gunfire sent people scrambling for safety from the street into nearby shops. Vinny Fong, owner of Golden Nails salon, said he heard about five gunshots and then people came running into his shop. "A lot of people tried to run in and hide," Fong said. "So we called the police.... MORE

I saw this terrible bit of information today: Suspected West Oakland gang member slain in East Oakland FROM STAFF REPORTS Article Last Updated: 08/20/2008 04:32:05 PM PDT OAKLAND — A reputed member of West Oakland's Acorn drug gang died early Wednesday from gunshot wounds sustained Tuesday night in East Oakland, police said.. He was identified as Jonathan Gonzalez, 21, whose street name was "Redbone," police said. A 34-year-old man who said he was Gonzalez's cousin was also wounded. His name was not released and police were not sure if he lived in Oakland or Emeryville. The shooting happened about 9:53 p.m. Tuesday at a housing project in the 1200 block of 65th Avenue. The older man was able to tell police he and Gonzalez were walking back from a store when they were confronted by a man with a gun who began shooting at them. Both men were hit several times by gunfire. Gonzalez died from his wounds at 2:29 a.m. Wednesday at Highland Hospital. The othe

I really get sick of posting this , but it's part of the current "deai" in Oakland: OAKLAND — A male was shot by an Oakland police officer at 9:55 p.m. Friday at 24th and Adeline streets in West Oakland. The victim was transported to a local hospital. His condition is unknown. Police are not releasing any information on the officer involved in the shooting. This the second officer-involved shooting in eight days and the eighth this year. Mack Woodfox, 27, was fatally shot by police after an attempted traffic stop July 25.

I saw this news at SFGate.com : (07-28) 06:26 PDT OAKLAND -- Oakland police today are investigating two restaurant robberies that occurred within minutes of each other on Sunday night. The first robbery happened at about 9:35 p.m. at the Bay Fung Tong Seafood Tea House at 1916 Franklin St. in downtown Oakland. Three armed men robbed people of their cash or wallets and took money from the business, police said. No one was injured in the takeover robbery. At about 9:42 p.m., a man robbed the Grégoire takeout restaurant at 4001 Piedmont Ave. One person was hurt during that robbery but did not need medical treatment, police said. No arrests have been made in the robberies, and it was not immediately known whether the two cases were related. I think the main issue is stopping crime before it starts. Both of these incidents happened around the close of business. Why no cameras in either place? What about other deterent devices? Or is this a time to encourage gun ownership?

It seems that Athol avenue is experiencing a new rash of robberies and break-ins. It's caused a new buzz with people online. This was from the Yahoo Message Board: Greetings Neighbors: My neighbor on the 400 block of Athol was also burglarized on Friday, maybe early afternoon. Similar M.O. They got TVs and laptops. They even left my neighbor's big flat panel TV on the street (their truck was probably already too full of other stuff). This was very upsetting, since they are only two houses away, and either I and/or my assistant were working on the house (the neighbors house is just out of sight). In hindsight, I think I might have seen these guys. I did give them a second look, since they were unfamiliar and driving unusually slowly. I watched but then they disappeared around the corner. So that is very frustrating. I feel very stupid for not taking more action. Here's what I remember of their description (please note, this is a fuzzy recollection based on a very brief vie

Ok. First, you wonder what this is doing here on this blog. Simple. It's a part of life in Oakland, just as much as Lake Merritt Farmer's Market, Whole Foods Market, Salsa dancing, or any of the good things about this city. This is one of the bad aspects of it, and one reason I avoid riding AC Transit and drive the car -- even with these high gas prices. Sorry, but someone's got to get their kids under control. This is terrible.

I just came from a dinner and during that event, learned that Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Deborah Edgerly may have been placed on administrative leave, but David Shea, Chief of Staff for Mayor Ron Delums would not confirm that a high-level meeting took place today or that the outcome was indeed to change the CAO's status from "retiring July 31st but still working" to "paid administrative leave." In my view, swaying from one decision to another is not a sign of good leadership. It's not the Mayor Dellums can't be a good leader, but I think what's happened is that Dellums made a bet that Senator Hillary Clinton would be the next step in his occupational life, lost that bet when he failed to back Senator Barack Obama, who's going to be the next president, and now is concerned about maintaining the job of Mayor. Thus, the back-and-forth indecision.

According to various friends and news sources, Oakland City Administrator Deborah Edgerly will retire July 31st 2008 . But from what I here, the embattled CAO's (Chief Administrative Officer) situation is such that it's Civil War (in capital letters) and foks have chosen sides. I personally stand by this view: that Miss E's phone call to help out her nephew set in motion a perfect storm of events and a clash between the following "agenda groups" 1) Professional / executive class African American female City of Oakland Employees This group is paced by the CAO, and is a loosely formed set of tight relationships, that one friend once described as "The Black Female Mafia.) 2) City of Oakland Employees who are not part of group one and specifically don't like the CAO. This includes people in the Oakland Police Department, but also other City of Oakland departments and personnel who I can't mention. This includes African Americans, male and female. It

I just saw the SFGate online article about Oakland City Admininstrator Deborah Edgerly and it has the headline, "Paid to do nothing". That's an insult and a smear, especially since the same article explains that Edgerly ran a meeting because Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums was late to attend it. The Chronicle's Chris Heredia wrote: On Friday, Dellums asked all city department heads to report directly to him until further notice. Edgerly, however, ran the first half of a weekly meeting of city department heads on Monday when Dellums was running late. So that means she's not paid to do nothing -- she's doing something . But most SFGate readers will just see that stupid headline and then make dumb comments in the comments section. Then they will communicate that to others and the public will have the wrong view of Miss E. Look, I don't think the SF Chronicle should do that. It's not right and it's certainly a smear of the first order.

UPDATE: Deborah Edgerly Protected By Oakland City Charter UPDATE: Chip Johnson's Right About Favoritism in Oakland UPDATE: Delums Fires Edgerly UPDATE: Rumor: Oakland Police Wiretapped Deborah Edgerly UPDATE: John Russo and Courtney Ruby present reform package There's a bit too much desire to throw Oakland City Administrator Deborah Edgerly under the bus regarding her alledged interference with a police investigation of an Oakland Gang. Knowing "Miss E" as I have since 1993, I'm going to come to her defense. In 15 years I'm never known Miss E to do anything but play by the book. Sometimes that's frustrated my efforts, particularly when I worked to bring the 2005 Super Bowl to Oakland, but even in my worst moments during that time between 1999 and 2001, I understood her position. But I've always respected and regarded her as a custodian of the City's budget and procedures. So this new story sound like just that -- I don't believe for

I met with Oakland's elected City Attorney and my friend John Russo the day after election day to talk about his unopposed win for a third term, how Oakland has changed, Oakland Politics and the District Three Council race, who Senator Obama should pick as his VP, what Russo's is proudest of with the evolution of his office, and the talks between the City of Oakland and the Oakland Raiders. Russo explains that the talks are between the Raiders and the Oakland / Alameda County Joint Powers Authority and that they're going well. He also confirmed that Raiders Manager of The General Partner Al Davis is not in good health and has not attended all of the meeting. As to the possibility that the Raiders would get a new stadium, he said no, but they're in agreement on the matters of concern to the Raiders. Given what I know from trying to bring the 2005 Super Bowl to Oakland (we lost to Jacksonville), that means we should expect to see an upgraded Coliseum at some point i

I saw today's Adams Point Yahoo Message Board email to me and this bit of news stuck out like a sore thumb: I don't have a lot of details, however, here's what I heard from my neighbor (who doesn't have internet) My neighbor, a young woman, was waiting for a ride from friends at @ midnight on Weds at the corner of Jayne & Lee. A foreign make car (Corolla?) drove up Lee from Vernon, turned onto Jayne and doubleparked. Two young men got out of the car and chased the young woman who tried to hide out in one of the apartment buildings on Lee. They caught her and took her purse at gunpoint, ran back to their car and drove away. My neighbor describes the attack as opportunistic--the guys in the car saw her and decided to relieve her of her cash, cards and keys. The assault and robbery have been reported to the police The good news: She's not hurt--just scared. The bad news: she lost her purse we have armed robbers cruising the neighborhood. Please be careful. and this

Oakland Residents For Peaceful Neighborhood scores another news touchdown with this story on a riot that broke out at Fremont High School, and which gives an unflinching look at Oakland flatland school violence. Here's the story, as told by ORPN with a link back to their website for the rest of the story: Fremont High Students Riot in Foothill Blvd. A fight between two teenage women escalated into a mob that stopped traffic and attacked elderly bystanders. The brawl began around 12:30 p.m. just outside Fremont High School on Foothill Blvd. at 48th Street. A resident of a house on Foothill Blvd. saw a young man holding a clutch of hair. Soon men in tricked-out cars and on decorated bicycles equipped with boom boxes gathered and escalated the chaos. Traffic could not proceed while the mob occupied Foothill Blvd. One couple took an elderly lady into their vehicle in order to protect her from attack. She had been waiting for the bus. However, the bus driver soon closed his doors and r

After weeks of discussions, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums finally got his request for $7 million in funding for new police officers. But buried within this victory comes a question of how to train them. A question posed by none other than Oakand Police Chief Wayne Tucker. According to the Oakland Tribune , Tucker said "It's going to be a real challenge to train the new recruits." That's a huge statement to make. It means that the police department lacks the people to train the new people. Makes you wonder who the heck did the planning for this allocation of money? Wow. If you think about it, that means there's less of an incentive to actually follow through with the Mayor and Council's decision and implement the new policy!

From the North Gate News This actually matches a Tagami Vision episode on the matter. Forum Focuses on Domestic Violence, Sexual Exploitation By Kerry Seed , October 29, 2007 at 11:49 pm OAKLAND – Police are getting more cases of domestic violence and sexual exploitation in recent years, and the victims are younger, according to a city coalition that gathered Monday to report on what is being done about the problem. More domestic violence incidents are reported in Oakland than in any other city in the nine-county Bay Area, said Jean Quan, City Council president pro tempore. And prosecutors say Internet prostitution has caused sexual exploitation cases to skyrocket. “The Internet has increased the number of cases beyond what we can handle,” said Sharmin Eshraghi, an Alameda County assistant district attorney who focuses on human exploitation and trafficking. “We have an epidemic. There’s more than we can actually prosecute.” With Domestic Violence Awareness month drawing to a close,

Over at Tagami Vision, Phil's got a great video interview with Oakland Police Chief Wayne Tucker. In this series on crime, Chief Tucker gives us a view on how the Oakland Police work to fight crime in Oakland.

Paul Rosynsky, who writes for the Oakland Tribune, wrote this blockbuster article for the Oakland Post. It reveals major errors in that the Oakland Police failed to record interviews between the murder suspect and Yusuf Bey 1V, leading to an observation that some kind of deal was made. Here's Paul. By Paul T. Rosynsky Oakland Tribune Staff Writer Special to the Oakland Post For a high-profile murder case, the slaying of Oakland Post Editor Chauncey Bailey was solved with lightning speed. Less than 48 hours after Bailey was killed Aug. 2 as he walked to work in downtown Oakland, police had a taped confession from a Your Black Muslim Bakery handyman claiming responsibility. It was a victorious moment. The police had solved a crime that had brought national scorn on Oakland and its growing crime problem. Bailey was the first journalist since 1993 killed on U. S. soil for doing his job. But as the confessed killer, Devaughndre Broussard, 19, appeared in court Thursday to enter his

I just went over for a quick visit and yep, post after post on crime in Oakland. Vsmoothe will eventually be driven to deep depression over this -- best to stop before it's too late. That's what I did!