Two men fatally shot near downtown Oakland art gallery identified

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- The two men who were shot and killed near an art gallery in downtown Oakland early Sunday morning have been identified as two Berkeley High School graduates.

On Monday, family and friends held a vigil near the intersection where the two men died.

WATCH VIDEO: Two men fatally shot near art gallery in downtown Oakland

They were attending a party at an art gallery that was closing. Witnesses say a group of outsiders who they didn't know showed up at the party and started a fight.

Friends of Terrence McCrary, 22, left flowers and candles for the man they call T Mack, one of the men who was fatally shot. "I'm tired of seeing memorials all over the place and this time once again it's for somebody that I know," Victim's friend Ricky Starr said.

It happened at 1 a.m. outside Prime Development gallery in downtown Oakland.

A fight spilled into the street where they located two men who were fatally shot. Officers found a third gunshot victim several blocks from the

crime scene and he was taken to a hospital, where he is in stable condition, police said.

MCrary and Craig Fletcher Cooks, 20, were killed. "He was trying to get away and he just got hit in the crossfire," Starr said.

Friends say it all started when someone grabbed Fletcher Cook's girlfriend. "He tried to protect her and right as that happened some other guy punched him in the face and he fell to the ground and a bunch of other guys jumped on him," victim's friend Elijah Allen said.

That's when gunshots were fired. A nearby business owner called police last week to try and put a stop to the event before it even happened.

She says the gallery's parties have routinely gotten out of hand. "It's not an incident that just happened in one night I feel like the feeling on the block is over a matter of months it's escalated to this and it's a tragedy," Oakland resident Judy Elkan said.

Both men lived in Oakland. Fletcher Cooks played football and rugby. Friends remember McCrary for his positive attitude.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact the police department's homicide section at (510) 238 3821 or the tip line at (510) 238-7950.

Bay City News contributed to this story.