By Emilie Raguso and Frances Dinkelspiel
Update, 11:44 a.m. Ashby and Shattuck avenues are now open to all traffic, police report. Read our 8:55 a.m. update below to learn more about Monday morning’s shooting.
Update, 10:25 a.m. Police confirmed at 10:24 a.m. that Shattuck Avenue is now open. Ashby Avenue west of Shattuck remains closed. Police advise motorists to use alternate routes.
Update, 9:43 a.m. One neighbor said police told her Shattuck Avenue should be open in the next few minutes, though Ashby Avenue will remain closed between Shattuck and Newbury Street to the west.
Update, 8:55 a.m. A busy South Berkeley intersection remains closed as police investigate an early-morning shooting Monday, authorities said.
According to Berkeley Police spokeswoman Officer Jennifer Coats, the shooting took place at Shattuck and Ashby avenues just before 1:45 a.m., and may have involved two vehicles firing at each other.
Two men in their 20s in one of the vehicles were seriously injured, Coats said. Paramedics who responded took them to Highland Hospital for treatment.
The other vehicle was gone from the area before police arrived, and its occupants remain at large. No arrests have been made.
Coats said bullets also struck the gas station on the southwest corner of the intersection, and an occupied apartment building just west of the gas station, on the south side of Ashby. There were no injuries reported on those properties, however.
Coats said the intersection will remain closed due to the large amount of evidence that needs to be collected. There was no estimate, as of about 8:40 a.m., as to when the area would re-open.
According to scanner audio recordings about Monday’s shooting, callers reported hearing 8-10 gunshots during the early morning incident. Police who responded found two victims and a Kia out of Tracey at the Chevron gas station. One of the men had been shot in the neck, and the second — still inside the Kia — had been shot in the hip. (A neighbor who saw the aftermath of the shooting confirmed to Berkeleyside that one man had been struck in the neck.)
Officers recovered ammunition in the Kia, and “multiple rounds” in the roadway on Shattuck south of Ashby.
Two people told officers bullets had passed over their beds as they slept, according to the scanner recordings.
Police have responded to at least two other shootings in Berkeley this year: an incident at Bancroft Way and Bonar Street in February that involved no victims but did result in bullets piercing a nearby occupied apartment building; and a shooting in broad daylight in March, at 62nd and King streets, that sent one man — reportedly an innocent bystander — to the hospital.
Berkeleyside will update this post if more information becomes available. Read more about gun violence in Berkeley.
Update, 8:13 a.m. One reader on Twitter is advising motorists to avoid the intersection of Ashby and Shattuck avenues after Monday morning’s shooting: “crime scene has caused traffic mess. Avoid ashby and Shattuck. Detours all 4 ways.”
Original story, 7:35 a.m. Berkeley police are looking for a gunman or gunmen who shot two men in their 20s in their car at Ashby and Shattuck avenues this morning.
The two men, who were not identified, were shot around 1:44 a.m,, according to ABC news. They were taken to a local hospital, according to a Nixle alert put out by the Berkeley police at 5:12 a.m.
The intersection Monday morning was riddled with bullets that police had marked with evidence tags. It looked as if dozens of rounds had been exchanged. Some bullets flew into a nearby apartment building. The victims’ Kia sedan was nearby, its doors open.
“It’s a significant exchange of gunfire,” Officer Jenn Coats told ABC.
Shooting Shattuck & Ashby #Berkeley 1:45am 2 men shot near gas station, police search for gunmen #KTVU streets closed pic.twitter.com/CO7XcwEe0K
— taramoriarty (@taramoriarty1) April 13, 2015
.@Mego888 .@berkeleyside The stray bullets entered 2nd floor apartments at 2067 Ashby, next to the US Smog and Gas. — Alissa Greenberg (@alissaleewrites) April 13, 2015
.@berkeleyside Talked to 2 shaken neighbors in #Berkeley shooting. 1 had a bullet land on his bed. Another said she saw car screeching away.
— Alissa Greenberg (@alissaleewrites) April 13, 2015
@theberbie @berkeleyside One guy had a neck injury but was walking around and talking, left in an ambulance. Not sure about anyone else — Meg Lara (@Mego888) April 13, 2015
Police had closed the intersection, one of Berkeley’s busiest, to conduct the investigation. It was still closed as of 6 a.m., according to the Contra Costa Times.
Berkeleyside will update the story as more information becomes available.
Related:
Police investigate shooting in South Berkeley (03.17.14)
Police respond to drive-by shooting in Berkeley (02.05.15)
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