Officers investigated the sound of possible gunfire Monday night near the UC Berkeley campus, authorities report.
A reader told Berkeleyside about police speeding by on Durant Avenue in the Southside neighborhood at 8:05 p.m. and asked for more information. One neighborhood resident described the location as the Bancroft Steps between Warring and Prospect streets.
Berkeley Police spokesman Officer Byron White told Berkeleyside police had been dispatched to a “loud reports” call near Bancroft Way and Piedmont Avenue at that time. He said he did not know whether physical evidence of gunfire had been located, but UCPD’s Shotspotter gunfire detection system “alerted” in response to the sound, White said. Officers had not found any victims or property damage as of about 8:15 p.m.
Berkeleyside later received unconfirmed reports that police had found a magazine — the part of a firearm that holds ammunition — at the scene. Berkeleyside has asked BPD for confirmation.
As of October, there had been 24 other confirmed incidents of gunfire in the city in 2019.
Note: Berkeleyside updated this story after publication with a photograph from the scene and additional details from a neighborhood resident.
