Police search for answers after 14-year-old shot and killed in Oakland
OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- The circumstances behind a 14-year-old's killing in Oakland are still unknown Thursday night.
The teen was with a group who waved down an ambulance Wednesday night. That group then sped off.
"All I gotta say is, just pray for us. Keep us in your prayers:" A simple and clear message from a woman who says she is the aunt of the 14-year-old teenager who was shot and killed.
"We're hoping that people feel courageous enough to call in and share whatever information they may have," says Deputy Chief of Investigations Drennon Lindsey of the Oakland Police Department.
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Lindsey says around 10:15 p.m. ShotSpotter technology picked up gunshots near 98th and International. As officers responded to that area, an ambulance was waved down three miles away on Mountain Boulevard near Keller Avenue and I-580 in Oakland.
Paramedics told police the vehicle being driven appeared to have been struck by gunfire.
"The occupants in that vehicle pulled a male juvenile from the vehicle and then drove off," says Lindsey.
That 14-year-old was pronounced dead from at least one gunshot wound a short time later.
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Nina Carter is a violence interrupter with Youth Alive in East Oakland, who says what happened is heartbreaking.
"Anybody being shot in Oakland is a concern to me, but when it becomes children it's always dear to my heart because I have sons," says Carter.
While the circumstances of what happened aren't yet known, Carter says there needs to be more community engagement here. She's been busy helping family members of an older case where a 15-year-old was killed.
"A lot of funding been cut as far as kids having safe places to be, plays a major role in that because there's really no accountability for their whereabouts," says Carter.
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Now police are left trying to figure out what the teenager and others were doing and how the 14-year-old was hit. The teen's homicide marks the 19th of the year in Oakland. Police say at this time last year there were 26.
Anyone with information can contact the Homicide Section at (510) 238-3821 or the TIP LINE at (510) 238-7950.
