Update, Feb. 4, 4:30 p.m. Berkeley police are asking residents to review any video surveillance they have access to that may have captured Friday’s shooting. Police ask anyone with information to call BPD’s Homicide Unit at 510-981-5741. The man is in stable condition. Police said Monday they don’t know if the incident was random or targeted.
Original story: Police are on the scene in South Berkeley for a shooting Friday afternoon.
A 21-year-old man who was shot multiple times has been taken to the hospital, police report.
Police were called to Derby and Grant streets just before 1:15 p.m. for the shooting report. BPD got numerous calls about gunfire and a person down in the street, police said.
Southbound traffic was blocked at Carleton and Grant streets as of about 1:30 p.m. Readers reported a helicopter in the area, and police used yellow tape to set up a perimeter.
A woman who lives nearby told Berkeleyside she “Heard two shots fired at about 1:12 p.m.”
Just before 1:50 p.m., police sent out a Nixle alert advising of traffic delays: “Due to police activity avoid Derby street between MLK and Mcgee and Grant between Carleton and Ward.”
As of 2:15 p.m., police remained on scene collecting evidence and canvassing the neighborhood, said BPD Lt. Peter Hong. He classified the man’s injuries as serious. There have been no arrests.
One reader said BUSD continuation school Berkeley Technology Academy was on lockdown shortly after the shooting. Berkeley Unified School District said the school “secured its perimeter,” but it wasn’t an official lockdown. Police said over the radio that they wanted to keep pedestrians out of the area during the investigation.
BUSD spokesman Charles Burress said the King Child Development Center, at 1939 Ward St., about three blocks away, was also asked to “secure its perimeter in an abundance of caution” after the shooting report came out. As of about 2:45 p.m., both campuses were back to normal operations.
Another reader reported that Sutter Health’s Milvia Care Center, at 2500 Milvia St., was placed on lockdown “because the shooter has not been found,” medical staff told her. That lockdown was lifted at about 3 p.m.
Sutter told Berkeleyside at about 3:30 p.m. that the facility was locked down for about an hour.
There have been several other confirmed reports of gunfire in 2019, but no one had been injured until Friday’s shooting.
In 2013, 26-year-old Jermaine Davis was killed on the same block, setting off what authorities called a “rampage of violence” that left a little girl dead.
Police ask anyone with information to call BPD at 510-981-5900.
Update, 3:50 p.m. The Berkeley Unified School District released the following statement just after 3 p.m.
“At this time, we have received no information indicating that any BUSD students were involved in today’s shooting incident in Berkeley, or any indication that BUSD students were in danger. In an abundance of caution and on advice of Berkeley Police, we instructed Berkeley Technology Academy and four other sites (Berkeley High, Longfellow Middle, Washington Elementary and King Development Center) to secure their perimeters. All sites were able resume normal operations within about an hour or less. We would like to clarify that a formal lockdown – in which internal campus movement is restricted – was not implemented at Berkeley Technology Academy or at any of the other BUSD sites.”
Update, 5:40 p.m. BUSD later clarified that Washington did put a brief lockdown in place, which limited student movement, at the direction of police.
This story was updated after publication due to the developing nature of the incident.
