Update, 2:20 pm: The BHS student who was shot this morning in Oakland is out of surgery and is stable and resting, according to an email from BHS Principal Pasquale Scuderi to the BHS community.
He writes: “While we are not posting the student’s name his individual teachers will be notified. We are cautiously optimistic about the outcome of this particular situation, but we are again deeply saddened by the reminder of how often and how brutally gun violence continues to impact young people in our community and in many communities across the country.
“While we have no indication of any further threat to the BHS campus or community in connection with this incident, our partners at the Berkeley Police Department have coordinated additional police presence with our safety staff for the duration of the afternoon and through dismissal purely as a precautionary measure while Oakland P.D. continues their investigation.
Reporting news like this to our community is never a pleasurable endeavor, and the best response we can hope for is to continuously endow our students with knowledge and options that decreases the probability of their being impacted by this or any other type type of pointless, futile violence.”
Update, 1:59 pm: It appears both the victim, an 18-year-old BHS student, and the gunman were riding bicycles. A witness calling himself Tom wrote in the Berkeleyside Comments at around 1:20pm: “I drove by right as it happened, he fell off his bike and was laying in the street, until now I didn’t know what had happened, I hope he is ok.” And the Oakland Tribune has updated its article to reflect this fact.
Berkeleyside is waiting for further details from Oakland Police Department.
Update, 1:52 pm: BUSD has confirmed to Berkeleyside that the BHS student who was shot this morning in North Oakland was 18, not 17 as previously reported. The student is in surgery, according to BHS Principal Pasquale Scuderi, writing in an email to the BHS community. He is being treated at Highland General Hospital in Oakland.
Scuderi says the BHS School Resource Officer from the Berkeley Police Department and its Dean of Students is maintaining close communication with the Oakland Police Department and “any relevant or appropriate details will be shared with our school community as they become available”.
He writes: “While we have no current indications that this terrible development poses any immediate threat to the campus or our general student body, we will nevertheless heighten our safety and security protocols and have counseling staff and the health center ready for students who may be emotionally impacted by these developments.
“Our hearts and thoughts are with our young man, and we will communicate what we can as more information becomes available.”
Update, 1:05 pm: BUSD spokesperson Mark Coplan has confirmed that the victim was a 17-year-old student at Berkeley High. He said BHS Principal Pasquale Scuderi will be emailing the parent community shortly.
Original story: This morning, at around 8:15 a.m., a 17-year-old Berkeley High School student on his way to school was shot near the intersection of Lowell and Market streets in North Oakland by a gunman on a bicycle, according to a report in the Oakland Tribune.
The boy was taken to hospital, where he was listed in critical condition. No motive is known and no suspects have been arrested.
A Berkeleyside reader was riding the bus this morning and said the area was blocked off by squad cars. “The street was blocked when I arrived at 9:15 and when I waited for the bus home at 10:15. A TV news crew was arriving at 10:15 and the street was opened then to cars heading North,” he reported.
KTVU reports the shooting happened on 63rd and Market streets and that it was one of four shootings in Oakland since Wednesday night, although the police have not said they are connected.
There were 12 shootings in Oakland over the holiday weekend leaving three dead and eight injured, according to KTVU.
Berkeleyside will report more details as they become available.
