A 6:40pm shootout last night between at least two vehicles that began near the 4500 block of West street left at least two wounded. The incident apparently crossed the borders of the neighboring cities of Oakland & Emeryville and concluded in the Best Buy Parking lot in Oakland.
One of the vehicles involved pulled into the Best Buy Parking lot where one of the victims reportedly entered the store screaming for help for his passenger who had also been shot. The victim was reported to be in critical condition. It was not clear if any actual bullets were fired in the Best Buy Parking lot. Additional reports of gunfire were reported at the 3700 block of Mandela Parkway and Adeline at 40th.
Because of the sometimes arbitrary nature of the borders (and the inaccurate border drawn on Google Maps), Best Buy is often believed to be in Emeryville (reportedly they even answer the phone as “Emeryville Best Buy”). The Best Buy is completely in Oakland and thus the incident falls within OPD’s Jurisdiction. IKEA straddles the border where the EPD patrols the interior of the store and OPD the south parking lot. Target is completely in Oakland but is patrolled by the EPD through an agreement with the city.
Emeryville is completely within the 94608 ZIP code but 94608 is not exclusively Emeryville. The easiest way to discern which city you’re in is the color of the street signs. Blue for Emeryville, Green for Oakland and Brown for Berkeley.
The shootout comes on the heels of the nearby tragedy of 30-year-old, mother of three Chyemil Pierce on March 9th and the unfortunately timing of the monthly West Oakland National Crime Prevention Council meeting with District 3 Representative Lynette Gibson. The meeting was reportedly interrupted by last night’s incident.
Emeryville police did step in to assist Oakland units at the scene. Oakland Police did not release a suspect description or motive, and the investigation is ongoing. We’ll update this post with any new, relevant information or corrections.
