Gunshots in Emeryville’s Park Avenue District Rankles Neighbors

August 23, 2019
6
1 min read

Emeryville Police responded to a report of gunfire on Park Avenue early Thursday evening at about 5:24 p.m. Two vehicles traveling from the Beach Street area behind Target were reportedly involved in a confrontation where at least two shots were fired.

Witnesses reported seeing a subject in the passenger side of a speeding vehicle shooting at another vehicle while passing the Emeryville Warehouse Lofts at 1500 Park Avenue. One vehicle fled the area heading east on Park toward San Pablo Avenue. A second black vehicle turned south on Hubbard then proceeded west on 40th. Neither vehicle was located.

The Citizen app, which monitors public safety channels like police scanners, identified one of the vehicles as a black Dodge Charger and the gun as a semi-automatic pistol.


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Officers were able to locate two nine mm shell casings from the area although they were unable to locate any bullets embedded in the surrounding buildings. EPD Captain Oliver Collins noted it’s a rarity for shooters in moving vehicles to actually hit their intended targets.

Police departments generally follow up with local hospitals to check if anyone was admitted with gunshot wounds. It is common for victims to seek care outside the area to elude questioning in the advent they were involved in a crime according to EPD.

The incident was indicative of the rapidly deteriorating conditions neighbors have witnessed in the historic neighborhood over the past few years. “Time to get out of this town,” noted one longtime neighbor who echoed the sentiment of others we spoke with. “It feels like E’ville is under siege,” noted another longtime employee of the area.

A swelling homeless encampment under the 40th/Shellmound bridge, eroding public safety including a rash of home burglaries & gunpoint robberies, a homicide, and questionable public maintenance where fallen limbs are becoming commonplace and dangerous.

Local politicians have been reluctance to publicly identify solutions or even acknowledge that there are growing issues in the neighborhood. Community efforts to improve the area via a well-supported public dog park were stifled by our current city council.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact the Emeryville Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Section at (510) 596-3700.

Feature Image: Nannette Miranda

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Rob Arias

is a third generation Californian and East Bay native who lived in Emeryville from 2003 to 2021. Rob founded The E'ville Eye in 2011 after being robbed at gunpoint and lamenting the lack of local news coverage. Rob's "day job" is as a creative professional.

6 Comments

  1. Not Park Avenue’s finest hour to be sure. One correction, one of the cars went east on Park toward San Pablo. The second (the black car) turned south on Hubbard, and then west on 40th. I was in the work yard next to the Pottery Place (hiding under a table) as it happened and I saw the vehicle, but I wasn’t close enough to get a license plate number.

    • There’s a rule that if you’re too scared to attach your name to a comment, you don’t get to use the phrase “pearl clutching” to describe someone else. Look it up.

  2. Does our PD think this was drug dealers fighting over turf close to their customers on our border?

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