Witnesses, texts link San Leandro man to Berkeley killing

The man charged with killing 24-year-old Dustin Bynum in Berkeley in August was seen near the crime scene before and after the shooting, according to court documents, though no one actually saw the attack.

Police wrote that Krishna Ferreira, 23, was the only person seen fleeing the scene.

“Although nobody eye-witnessed the shooting, several witnesses saw the victim and the suspected shooter seconds before and saw the same suspect flee on foot eastbound on Delaware St; nobody else was in the immediate area,” according to a court document related to Ferreira’s arrest.

Police used eyewitness accounts as well as video surveillance footage to identify the shooter. According to the report, multiple Berkeley police officers identified Ferreira in the footage.

On Aug. 1, Bynum was shot multiple times outside Bing’s Liquors, at San Pablo Avenue and Delaware Street. Passers-by told Berkeleyside he was shot several times at close range. Paramedics took Bynum to the hospital, but he was later pronounced dead.

On Aug. 7, an Alameda County superior court judge signed a warrant for Ferreira’s arrest. Berkeley Police arrested him in San Leandro on Sept. 10, and executed a search warrant at his residence of record.

Police said, in the court documents, that Ferreira had “incriminating text messages” on his cell phone related to the murder. The texts “indicated Ferreira knew the victim and messaged people that the victim was at San Pablo and Delaware.” Just after the killing, wrote police, “Ferreira text messaged people to come and pick him up because he was hiding in the immediate area of the shooting.”

According to authorities, Ferreira is on supervised county probation for a 2012 conviction for snatching the purse of a 77-year-old woman in Berkeley.

On May 17, 2012, the woman told police she was walking when a man later identified as Ferreria grabbed her purse and knocked her down. One witness saw him running from the scene, and another saw him leaving a driveway where the purse was dumped.

The district attorney’s office has charged Ferreira with murder for the August 2013 shooting; if convicted, it would count as a second strike against him, according to court documents.

Ferreria remains in custody without bail in Santa Rita Jail in Dublin. He was scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 12. His next court date related to the murder is not currently available, though a hearing to revoke his probation was scheduled for Monday morning.

According to Krishna Ferreira’s Facebook page, he was a member of Berkeley High’s class of 2008, and later studied at Diablo Valley College.

Want to get breaking news quickly? Follow Berkeleyside on Twitter and download the free Berkeleyside iPhone app.

Emilie Raguso