Update, April 19, 11:50 a.m. The Berkeley Police Department confirmed shortly before noon Sunday that officers had arrested 31-year-old Sean Thomas Ryan of Berkeley after Saturday night’s shooting. Ryan is being held without bail and was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, domestic violence and probation violation. He is set for arraignment at the East County Hall of Justice in Dublin on Tuesday.
BPD’s Officer Byron White, department spokesman, said police responded just before 11:10 p.m. Saturday to the 2500 block of Channing Way for a woman in her 30s who had been shot. She had called police from an emergency phone on Channing. The woman was taken to the hospital where she was in stable condition as of late Sunday morning.
Police found Ryan in the 2600 block of Dwight Way, not far from the shooting scene at the southeast corner of People’s Park, White said.
Original story: A woman was shot near People’s Park in Southside Berkeley on Saturday night, according to preliminary information based on police radio traffic reviewed by Berkeleyside.
Berkeleyside asked BPD for confirmation shortly before midnight, but there has been no response.
According to radio traffic from the Berkeley Police Department and officers at the University of California, Berkeley, the 36-year-old woman told police she had been shot at People’s Park sometime before 11 p.m.
Police also detained the 31-year-old Berkeley man who was reportedly responsible for the shooting, according to radio traffic.
Initially, officers were unable to locate the woman’s wound, but Berkeley firefighter-paramedics found it on the left side of her chest when they examined her at the scene. They rushed the woman to Highland Hospital in Oakland for treatment, going “Code 3” with their lights and sirens on, according to unconfirmed radio traffic.
Officers identified the location of the shooting as Dwight Way just east of Bowditch Street, just across from the southeast corner of People’s Park.
The park is bounded by Haste Street and Dwight Way to the north and south with Bowditch to the east.
The woman called police from an emergency “blue light” phone at 2520 Channing Way, a campus housing complex called Maximino Martinez Commons, about 2.5 blocks from the shooting scene to report that she had been shot, according to the radio traffic.
Initially, a UCPD dispatcher told officers over the radio that she was “unsure if this is true or not,” and said she was “still trying to get further” information.
“She’s said she’s just in pain but can’t tell me exactly where,” the dispatcher told officers, who responded quickly to the area.
Over the radio, police described the woman as “somewhat” uncooperative.
UCPD’s ShotSpotter gunfire detection system did not register the sound of the shooting, police reported.
As of shortly before 1 a.m., police from both BPD and UCPD remained in the area conducting interviews, reviewing surveillance footage and collecting evidence.
Berkeleyside will update this story when the Berkeley Police Department provides information.
Prior to Saturday, there had been at least five confirmed incidents of gunfire in Berkeley in 2020. One of them was fatal.
On March 20, a man was shot to death by a stranger while driving in Berkeley. Criminal charges have been filed in that case.
There have also been four gunfire incidents with no reported victims: in February at the Berkeley Marina; in mid-March on Berkeley Way near Franklin Street; in late March at Dwight Way and Seventh Street; and on April 10.
On April 10 just after 9:20 p.m., police responded to the 1600 block of Russell Street on a gunfire report. Officers at the scene found bullet casings on the ground but no victims.
