The Oakland Police Department is reorganizing to deploy additional officers in East Oakland and parts of West Oakland, Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong said.
The move comes amid another violent week that saw the city’s 96th slaying this year on Tuesday, and a mass shooting at a high school campus Wednesday that wounded six adults.
Wednesday’s incident began at 12:49 p.m., when police were called to a report of gunfire in the 8200 block of Fontaine Street, at the King Estate campus in the Oakland Unified School District.
The shooting occurred at the combined campus of Rudsdale Continuation and Newcomer high schools.
Paramedics took six adults to hospitals. Two of the victims were listed in critical condition and one was in stable condition late Wednesday, Alameda Health System spokesperson Eleanor Ajala said.
The school complex is also home to BayTech Charter School and the headquarters of Sojourner Truth Independent Study. No students were at Sojourner Truth Independent Study, school district officials said.
In the Tuesday killing, police received calls at 10 a.m. of shots fired in the 9600 block of Edes Avenue.
The first officer to get to the victim was an off-duty officer who provided medical aid. Then the victim was taken to a hospital with multiple gunshot wounds. Doctors could not save his life, Armstrong said.
Last year at this time, Oakland had suffered 102 killings. Since 2020, gun violence has been on the rise.
A few people behind the violence
“We are going all-hands-on-deck to address gun violence in the city of Oakland,” Armstrong said.
He aims to have officers arrest the people who are driving the violence.
“This is not an effort to arrest everybody,” he said. “This is an effort to arrest those that are driving the gun violence in our city.”
Armstrong thinks only a small group of people are responsible for the gun violence. The people are mainly parts of groups and gangs, he said.
Of the 450 shootings this year, police attribute about 30 percent to group and gang violence, the chief said.
“This is not an effort to arrest everybody. This is an effort to arrest those that are driving the gun violence in our city.”
Chief LeRonne Armstrong
Armstrong wants police to increase their visibility to deter crime. The redeployment of officers to West Oakland will be in areas where groups and gangs congregate.
Armstrong added that Oakland police will continue to work with San Francisco police to thwart violence caused by groups and gangs from San Francisco.
“This is a difficult time in the city of Oakland,” he said.
He said it is important that his department respond.
“We will increase enforcement on our streets to remove these guns from our community,” the chief said.
Police have not determined a motive for Tuesday’s killing. The name of the victim was not immediately available.
Armstrong also added eight officers to the criminal investigations division to identify the people responsible for crime and bring them to justice, he said.
Police are also redeploying officers for traffic enforcement since the number of fatal traffic collisions is up.