Oakland's affluent neighborhoods seeing increase in violent home invasion robberies, data shows
OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- The number of violent home invasion robberies in Oakland's affluent neighborhoods continues to rise, according to new report from the Oakland Police Department. The numbers are up, and we have new details about the victims, the perpetrators, and exactly where it's happening. At a public safety hearing Monday evening, police officials gave a picture of home invasions that was a little dated. They used numbers up to Aug. 15. But our data team did a little digging Thursday and found the current totals, as of this week.
At the City Council's Public Safety meeting, Oakland police officials reported an uptick in home invasion robberies in the Laurel, North Hills, Joaquin Miller, and the Greater San Antonio neighborhoods.
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Nikki Fortunato Bas, City Council President, said, "I do want to note that just on Sunday, there was a very violent home invasion in West Oakland where a homicide resulted. All of these are unacceptable."
The latest figures show that, as of this past Sunday, there have been 63 home invasion robberies like this one I showed you last month -- an 80-year-old man and his 69-year-old wife are caring for their grandchildren when robbers break in a second floor window. The men held the couple at gunpoint for nearly 40 minutes -- a terrifying ordeal, their daughter told us.
RELATED: Series of home invasions target Asian families in Oakland Hills, police sources tell I-Team
"During this time, my mom was trying to rush them out of the house by saying, hey, you know, someone's going to be home soon, my son-in-law is going to be home from work soon. So we need to hurry up and get what you need. You know, she offered them cash and say, hey, if what you're looking for is cash, here's cash, but just take it, please don't hurt any of us."
The head of the OPD Robbery and Felony Section told the City Council that most of the victims are elderly Asians, 57-87 years old, and that the home invasions take place mostly between 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. Monday to Friday.
He broke down the numbers by area. Take a look at Area 4 that has the most home invasions with 17. Then, 10 home invasions each in Areas 1, 3 and 5. Area 2 with eight and Area 6 with four.
The resident, said, "There's dots all over the map, including our streets in our neighborhood. It's there's an incident every few days on in this general vicinity."
Dan Noyes asked, "There's a real sense of fear in this neighborhood?"
The resident answered, "Absolutely. Everyone's mobilized because of it. But I've never seen anything like it before."
This Oakland Hills resident doesn't want to be identified, especially after a close call with a suspect believed to have pulled off a home invasion on his street. He talked to police.
Dan Noyes: "The officers tell you that. They think this one guy committed 30 home invasions?"
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Resident: "That's right. Yup, and his mode of operation is to go to the front door. And if that doesn't work, go around the back and force entry and doesn't care if anyone's home."
Police told the Public Safety Committee, "The spike in these home invasion robberies is attributed to a group of two to four suspects who were committing their crime spree in affluent upper-scale neighborhoods."
They broke down the victims by race: Asian with the most at 18 home invasions, followed by Hispanic, Black, White, Other or Unknown, then Asian Indian and Native American.
A police spokesman tells us Thursday that an arrest has been made, but they can't release details on the suspect because it's an ongoing investigation. By the way, auto theft in Oakland has increased 52% compared to last year with more than 10,000 cars so far.
Here's the latest report from the OPD.
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