Third Street between Broadway and Franklin was blocked off around 3 p.m. as detectives conducted their investigation and waited for the coroner to show up.
At about 2:45 p.m., Oakland police started getting several 911 calls about a shooting. Police headquarters is only about four blocks away. Officers were in the middle roll call so they got over there quickly.
They found the body of a man in his 20's in the middle of Third Street. It's an area with restaurants and produce warehouses, just a few blocks from the heart of Jack London Square.
Police believe the killer fired the shots and then escaped in a car. They do not believe it was a drive-by-shooting, nor do they think it was random.
"I was just thinking that noise that we heard could have been gunshots," Oakland resident Richard Giordanella said. "It was pretty loud, sounded like a couple firecrackers going off, actually."
Detectives were questioning witnesses and also looking at surveillance video from The Ellington, a high-rise condominium at the corner of Broadway and 3rd streets. That building directly overlooks the crime scene.
Police believe they know the identity of the victim, but are not releasing that person's name at this point.
There are no arrests at this point and police do not have any suspects.
Oakland is now approaching 120 homicides for the year. That's above the homicide toll from last year of 110.
