Armed person shot, killed by police sergeant near Oakland City Hall, OPD says
OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- An Oakland police sergeant en route to work Tuesday morning fatally shot an armed person who approached his car near city hall, according to police.
The shooting happened before 4 a.m. near the intersection of 16th Street and San Pablo Avenue.
OPD says that the sergeant was confronted by an armed person who approached his vehicle. In response to the suspect opening fire, police say the officer shot the gunman multiple times and they ultimately died on scene.
Police said they were alerted to the shooting from a gunshot detection tool called ShotSpotter.
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"OPD officers responded to the 300 block of Frank Ogawa Plaza to investigate a ShotSpotter activation, upon arrival, the officers located an individual suffering from a gunshot wound," Kim Armstead, a spokesperson for the Oakland Police Department. said.
Police officials say the officer involved in the shooting was not injured and placed on administrative leave, per standard procedure.
Officers recovered a firearm and multiple casings of different calibers at the scene.
Several cars, including that one with 'California Exempt' license plates and all four doors open, could be seen behind crime scene tape.
OPOA President Barry Donelan gave this statement on the shooting:
"This morning at Oakland City Hall, a criminal picked the wrong victim. We are thankful for our officer's safety and equally relieved that community members were not injured during the incident."
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A neighboring business owner said he heard about the shooting on the Citizen App shortly after finishing up work and leaving the area for the night.
"When I saw the officer trying to page the business, I turned back around and I was here within 5 or 10 minutes," Rami, a business owner said.
Within minutes of the shooting, he said police were already buzzing his business to ask for surveillance camera footage.
"Their quick response is also not uncommon, I know that people think that they take forever to kind of come out on calls, I've only had the opposite experience," he said. "I can't thank the police enough because I think the presence does make a difference."
"ShotSpotter went off, so I can tell you that. And that's a utility that we use here it the city of Oakland, to have our officers show up when there are gunshots that are fired. So, we are seeing that technology is working," says Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao.
Mayor Thao says she is limited in terms of what she can say given that this is an open investigation. But did add the Alameda County District Attorney's office is also investigating.
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In statement to ABC7 News, the OPD says: "The Oakland Police Department remains committed to transparency. However, to ensure the integrity of the investigation, the release of information must be limited at this time. Additional details will be shared as soon as the investigative process allows and in compliance with the law."
Still, community activists are still raising concerns.
"We have been ringing the alarm bell and saying, if you flood our streets with more cops, if you decide that the answer to every social ill in our current state of crisis is law enforcement only, we are going to see an uptick in police violence," explains Cat Brooks with Anti Police-Terror Project.
She says she is concerned that this is the second fatal police shooting in the East Bay in two days. The first being a shooting in Berkeley on Monday.
Brooks acknowledges that the officer may have shot in self-defense, but she says there needs to be proof.
"They says that all the time. When have you ever seen the cops kill somebody and go, 'You are right. We were wrong.' Never! They always have a story first. Until we have all the facts, and I am not saying that, that is not what happened, I'm saying, we don't know. And their word is not good enough for me and it should be good enough for the rest of the public either," says Brooks.
Oakland police, the Alameda County District Attorney's Office and the Oakland Community Police Review Agency are now investigating this deadly shooting.
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