Local News

OAKLAND (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ― Oakland's assistant police chief said Monday that he's "a little concerned" about a surge of homicides since last Thursday that has brought the city's murder count to 79 so far this year.

Assistant Police Chief Howard Jordan said the Oakland Police Department will review its nighttime operations to make sure enough officers are deployed, as all but one of the eight murders since Thursday were committed in the late night or early morning hours.

However, he said reducing Oakland's high murder rate can't be accomplished by police alone.

"I think we need a lot more people taking action: community groups, parents and other outreach programs," Jordan said. "Police can't be at every corner at 2 and 3 in the morning to try and prevent violence."

The brazen slaying of Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey, 57, on Thursday morning was the first in the recent homicide surge. Police said Devaughndre Broussard, 19, a handyman for the Your Black Muslim Bakery in Oakland, has admitted killing Bailey.

Bailey's death was followed by gunfire that claimed seven more lives in separate incidents over a four-day span. The most recent homicide occurred early Sunday morning.

Kevin F. Sharp Jr., 20, was watching television at his East Oakland home in the 1950 block of 13th Avenue when he answered a knock at his door at 3:18 a.m. and was fatally shot, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The shooter fled, and police have no information on the suspect or a motive, Sgt. James Morris said.

Late Saturday, 25-year-old Khatari Gant died after gunman with an assault rifle sprayed his van with bullets in the 600 block of 54th Street near Shattuck Avenue, police said. Gant's brother and a friend were wounded in the shooting about 11:23 p.m.

All three were taken to Highland Hospital, where Gant was pronounced dead, Sgt. George Phillips said. One of the other two victims was in critical condition and may not survive.

A man was shot around 4:40 a.m. Saturday in the 1200 block of 49th Avenue, according to police. That victim, said to be Hispanic, has still not been identified. He was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Police arrived at the La Quita Inn hotel at 8465 Enterprise Way near Oakland International Airport early Saturday to find Byron Mitchell, 29, of Chicago dying from a gunshot wound. Police believe he received the wound while struggling with a robber around 12:53 a.m. He later died in surgery at a local hospital.

Mitchell had come to Oakland to work as a replacement driver during a recent contract dispute between the city's garbage hauler and its drivers, Sgt. Phillips said.

Jacqueline Venable, 40, was fatally shot Friday around 11 p.m. as she ate cake with friends in the 1100 block of 8th Street in West Oakland, police said. The group heard gunshots nearby before Venable fell to the ground.

She was taken to Highland Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 12:05 a.m. Saturday, the Alameda County coroner's bureau said.

Two people were killed in a shooting at an Oakland nightclub early Friday morning. Police said the shootings took place around 2:15 a.m., at '@17,' a club located at 510 17th Street. Neither the victims, nor the suspects have been identified.

The deaths brought the number of killings reported in Oakland for the year to 79. The city had recorded 84 murders by this time last year, when homicides surged by about 60 percent.

Clergy members, politicians and colleagues who gathered Saturday near the spot where Bailey, the editor of the Oakland Post newspaper, was gunned down two days earlier said they were tired of bloodshed in the city.

They encouraged witnesses to come forward and tell police what they knew to help stem the tide of crime.

``There's this whole notion of not wanting to be labeled a snitch and fear of retribution,'' Oakland city councilwoman Desley Brooks. ``We need to turn this on its head.''

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