Police are on the scene in West Berkeley investigating a shooting that wounded a male teenager Friday night, authorities report.
The victim, who is under 18, was taken to the hospital for treatment and is expected to survive, police said.
Authorities got multiple calls about the sound of gunfire at 8:05 p.m., said Lt. Spencer Fomby of the Berkeley Police Department. The incident took place on Eighth Street between Bancroft Way and Channing Way, the same block where a shooting wounded two men last week.
It was Berkeley’s second shooting of the day. Just before 4 p.m., a person was shot near the Seabreeze homeless encampment at University Avenue and Interstate 80. The California Highway Patrol is handling that investigation.
Regarding the shooting on Eighth, one neighbor told Berkeleyside there were six or seven shots fired “in very quick succession,” which hit the teenager while he was in the driveway of an apartment building in the middle of the block. The shooting took place just one house away from last week’s shooting on Sept. 22, which sent two men, ages 28 and 32, to the hospital.
“The whole street is still completely blocked off an hour later and the crime scene unit truck is there,” the neighbor said just before 9:20 p.m.
Freeway shooting also under investigation
Separately, the CHP is investigating a shooting that took place near a Berkeley homeless encampment just before 4 p.m. Friday on the offramp from I-80 westbound onto University Avenue, said Officer John Fransen, an agency spokesman.
The victim, described as a “possible transient,” was a middle-aged man who was shot in the abdomen, Fransen said. The man, who was said to be living nearby, was taken to the hospital for treatment.
The shooter fled before police arrived. Fransen said authorities have no description of that individual to share at this time.
The CHP asks anyone with information about the freeway shooting to call the agency’s tip line at 707-917-4491.
On Sept. 21, Berkeley City Manager Dee Williams-Ridley described the situation at the University Avenue homeless encampment as urgent due to a range of health and safety issues. She said the city planned to clear the area within 30 days.
Berkeley has had dozens of shootings in 2020
There have been approximately 25 confirmed shootings in the city in 2020, many of which have taken place in West Berkeley.
In August, a man was wounded during a shooting at 10th Street and Bancroft Way. On Sept. 9, a young man in his late teens was shot at San Pablo Avenue and Murray Street.
In June, 19-year-old Cal student Seth Smith was fatally shot while walking in southwest Berkeley on Dwight Way. Murder charges have been filed in that case.
Shootings have also taken place in other areas of the city. Last weekend, a man was killed during a shooting at a Berkeley Hills home on Glen Avenue. Murder charges have also been filed in that case.
Writing on Twitter on Friday night in response to community concerns about public safety, Mayor Jesse Arreguín pointed out that the city’s crime report will be presented to the City Council in two weeks.
“It is an important opportunity to discuss the increase in gun violence which is alarming and troubling,” he wrote at about 11 p.m. “I am deeply concerned about the shootings and have asked PD to explain and develop a plan.”
Note: Berkeleyside added information to this story about other local shootings, as well as additional details about both shootings Friday, shortly after publication.
