Man in police shootout charged with Berkeley murder

Calvester Stewart has been charged with the murder of Devin Whitmire on March 29 near Bob’s Liquors on Sacramento. Photo: A citizen reporter

Update, 4:40 p.m.: Calvester Houston Stewart, 19, has been charged with the attempted murder of five police officers, the Berkeley Police Department said in a statement released at 4:28 p.m. today. Stewart has also been charged with the March 29 murder of Devin Lee Whitmire, 24 (see below). He was wounded by Berkeley police during a shootout on Delaware Street on April 13 when he shot at officers.

Original story: Calvester Stewart, 19, who was wounded by Berkeley police during a shootout on Delaware Street on April 13, has been charged with the murder of Devin Whitmire, 24, which took place near Bob’s Liquors store on Sacramento Street on March 29.

Stewart, of Berkeley, is the second suspect to be charged with the murder of Whitmire, who was also of Berkeley. Prosecutors previously charged 18-year-old Randall Oscar Alston with murder and he pleaded not guilty at a hearing on April 9.

Stewart was arrested on April 13 after opening fire on several officers outside an apartment building on the 900 block of Delaware Street at around 10:40pm. After several officers fired back but missed, Stewart ran around the building and confronted Officer Samantha Speelman, who shot and wounded him in the arm and leg according to the Chronicle. Stewart appeared in court Monday in a wheelchair.

Alston, 18, also of Berkeley, was arrested shortly after the March 29 slaying which came as two men left Bob’s Liquors and were confronted by a crowd of men on the corner, one of whom had a gun and started shooting. The two men fled. Whitmire was hit and fell down on Oregon Street. Paramedics transported him to a local trauma center where he was pronounced dead. Police arrested Alston about an hour later.

It emerged later that Whitmire’s brother was with the victim on the night of the killing and he fought with Alston after the slaying and immediately preceding Alston’s arrest.

Alston and Stewart are scheduled to return to Alameda County Superior Court on May 21 for a preliminary hearing. Stewart’s lawyer is reported to have said yesterday that she might not be prepared by that time and she also will seek to have Stewart prosecuted separately from Alston.

Stewart, who has previous arrests for weapons violations, and Alston are being held without bail at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin.

Whitmire’s murder was the third homicide of the year in Berkeley. On the evening of Jan. 26, Kenneth Warren, 35, of Hercules was gunned down in a barrage of bullets on Emerson Street at Shattuck after leaving his job at Don’s Headquarters barbershop. And, on Feb. 18, Peter Cukor, 67, was bludgeoned to death outside his home on Park Gate in the Berkeley hills.

Tracey Taylor