Oakland police investigate double murder

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Two people are dead and a third is in critical condition after a shooting and car fire in East Oakland on the 9900 block of Empire Road just before 2 a.m.

Police are releasing few details, only that there was a double murder in Oakland overnight.

A resident of Oakland's Columbia Gardens neighborhood, who asked that she not be identified, said she heard the shots first, then saw a man running past her window.

"There were several shots, right in a row, one two, three four," said the woman. "There was a man running down the middle of the street, he was dressed in dark clothing and he was on fire; the back of his head, the back of his clothing was on fire."

A pickup truck fully engulfed in flames with two victims inside. Both pronounced dead at the scene. The third man, the one seen wounded and running from the burning truck is alive, but in critical condition at an area hospital.

"Obviously, everybody knows what goes on here, the violence in the city is paramount, it's overboard and we're all tired of it," said witness Joe Vaughn.

About 20 yards from where the gutted truck was parked, there's a black stretch limousine with gas cover and cap open, with at least four red plastic gas cans lined up next to it. Investigators won't confirm whether the fatal shooting and fire were somehow related to what appears to be an effort siphon gas from the limousine.