Berkeley police arrest 2 after December killing

Photo: Kamahl Middleton — Homicide victim Kamahl Middleton of El Sobrante

Police have arrested a 20-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy in connection with the double shooting in Berkeley in December of an El Sobrante paraplegic who died at the scene, and a woman with him who survived the attack.

Police arrested Carl Young Jr. on Thursday in Oakland on suspicion of murder, second-degree robbery and assault with a firearm. He was arrested at 9 a.m. but was not booked into Berkeley Jail until just after midnight Friday, according to the Alameda County sheriff’s department. The teenager’s name was not released because he is a minor.

Young is being held without bail, and is scheduled for arraignment Monday at 2 p.m. at the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse in downtown Oakland in Department 112.

The fatal shooting took place Dec. 29 on San Pablo Avenue, just north of University Avenue in West Berkeley, in a parking lot used by the 99 Cents Only store and other businesses, and adjacent to Everett & Jones Barbecue.

The Berkeley Police Department’s homicide detail has been actively investigating the case since the night of Dec. 29, police said Friday.

On Thursday, with the support of Berkeley Police Department’s Special Response Team, the San Leandro Police Department SWAT Team, the Oakland Police Department and the Alameda Police Department, Berkeley investigators arrested Young in the 700 block of 85th Avenue in Oakland. Investigators also arrested the 17 year-old, who was booked into the Alameda County Juvenile Detention Facility. Both suspects are from San Leandro.

Police have not said how they linked the duo to the killing, or whether additional arrests are pending.

“In the interest of maintaining the integrity of this complex, on-going investigation, BPD will not be releasing any further details at this time,” according to Friday’s statement. “BPD anticipates releasing more information as circumstances of the investigation allow.”

The gruesome scene where a man was killed Monday night. Photo: Darby Tyro — The scene where a man was killed in December. Photo: Darby Tyro

Thirty-six-year-old Kamahl Middleton was pronounced dead at the scene of the shooting. A woman who was with him was taken to the hospital for treatment.

According to the Alameda County coroner’s office, Middleton’s cause of death was multiple shotgun pellet wounds of the shoulder and chest.

Middleton identified himself on his LinkedIn page as the chief marketing officer for Natural Energy Company, dating back to 1996. Middleton became a paraplegic after a car accident in high school.

According to Middleton’s childhood friend Ryan Begley, Middleton attended Berkeley’s Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, and later attended Albany High School.

“He was a great person, totally non violent and was loved by everyone he knew,” said Begley via email. “He was put in a wheel chair as a result of a car accident that happened during our senior year, perhaps our junior. The car he was riding in flipped over along the border of Albany and Berkeley on Key Route … or somewhere near there. The other two people in the car fled.”

The Berkeley Police Department has released minimal information about the shooting in December.

According to police, dispatchers received multiple 911 calls about the incident, which took place in a parking lot in the 1900 block of San Pablo Avenue at 9:45 p.m. four days after Christmas.

The scene Tuesday on San Pablo Avenue as a city worker cleaned up after a fatal shooting. Photo: Darby Tyro

First responders found Middleton, who was dead, and a 28-year-old woman suffering from gunshot wounds, according to police.

Berkeleyside reviewed scanner audio recordings in which police said the incident began as a robbery of medical marijuana, and involved a shotgun.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported in December that the woman who was shot was Middleton’s girlfriend. A family friend told the Chronicle that Middleton “grew marijuana, usually sold to medical marijuana clubs and used the drug himself to alleviate pain.” She said the family told her Middleton had set up a deal on the internet to sell marijuana the night he was killed.

Three other people were killed in Berkeley last year: 54-year-old Sylvan Fuselier near San Pablo Avenue and Addison Street in February; Nancy McClellan, 72, in South Berkeley in September during an attempted carjacking; and Damarco Thomas in a shooting in October at the Seabreeze market on University Avenue west of Interstate 80.

Police ask anyone with information about this incident to call the Homicide Detail at 510-981-5741 or the non-emergency line at 510-981-5900. Callers who wish to remain anonymous can reach Bay Area Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477.

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Emilie Raguso