Innocent bystander hurt in brazen downtown Oakland shooting

Laura Anthony Image
ByLaura Anthony KGO logo
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Innocent bystander hurt in Oakland shooting
Police say a woman pushing a baby stroller was hit during a brazen shooting that happened on busy Broadway Street in downtown Oakland this morning.

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- A brazen daytime shooting in downtown Oakland left an innocent bystander injured. Surveillance video shows the gunman pull his weapon and open fire. One bullet injured a woman with a baby stroller. This happened as the Oakland City Council is poised to consider a new law to keep more guns from ending up on the street.

It played out on busy Broadway Street in the middle of the morning after a discussion turned violent.

Video shows a man in a tan hoodie pull out a gun and fire it three times. One shot hit a woman bystander a half block away.

"Heard the shot," said Shatrice Broughton. "A young lady was standing right there with the baby in the stroller."

Broughton told ABC7 News she just got off the bus at Broadway and 14th when the woman was shot right on the sidewalk in front of her. She helped that woman inside a fast food restaurant.

"They gave me a bunch of cold cloths to apply pressure," she said. "I guess it hit an artery or something because it was bleeding too bad to be grazed. So I applied something around her arm really really tight to stop it and held it, I felt the bullet myself in there, so I held it down until the fire department and ambulance got here."

An Oakland business owner told us surveillance video shows the suspect inside his store moments before the shooting.

"Unfortunately during the shooting, an innocent bystander was struck by one of the rounds," Officer Johnna Watson said. "She was immediately rushed to a local hospital where she's listed in stable condition."

The shooting happened just across the street from Oakland City Hall, where tonight the council will consider a proposal to require locks or boxes for guns in cars and homes.

"I think it's just another in a long string of tragic reminders that we have to do better on gun violence," said Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan.

"They just need to make sure that laws are stricter because innocent bystanders are getting killed, hit," said Broughton.

Police recovered a handgun but are still searching for the gunman who fired down a busy sidewalk in the middle of the day.