Update, Oct. 11: Police arrested two 19-year-olds from Berkeley in connection with more gunfire in West Berkeley on Saturday night three hours after a shooting on Seventh Street damaged a vehicle there.
Berkeley Police Lt. Spencer Fomby said officers heard the second round of gunfire — at Eighth Street and Channing Way — and saw a driver fleeing the area. Police pursued the driver onto westbound Interstate 80, Fomby said: “The vehicle yielded on the shoulder at the I-80/880 split. Officers took two males into custody. We are still trying to determine whether they shot at anybody. We did not locate any victims.”
According to jail records, the men were identified as Yoav Pedroza-Deltoro and Jonathan Baez. Pedroza-Deltoro, who was identified as the driver, is being held on $85,000 bail. Baez is being held on $75,000 bail. Both were arrested on suspicion of firing a gun from a vehicle, among other crimes, according to online jail records. Pedroza-Deltoro was also arrested on suspicion of firing at an occupied home or vehicle. They are scheduled for arraignment Wednesday at the East County Hall of Justice in Dublin.
Original story, Oct. 10: Police are investigating gunfire that damaged a vehicle on Seventh Street that was abandoned after being involved in a collision Saturday night, authorities report.
No victims have been located, but police have notified area hospitals in case anyone with gunshot wounds comes in, according to preliminary information.
Berkeley Police Lt. Spencer Fomby told Berkeleyside that BPD got multiple reports of gunfire just before 9 p.m. The gunfire scene was located in the 2400 block of Seventh between Channing Way and Dwight Way in West Berkeley, police said over the radio.
When officers arrived on Seventh, Fomby said, they found multiple vehicles — including one that had been abandoned — that had been involved in a traffic collision. Officers also found evidence of a shooting, including casings and the vehicle that had been damaged by gunfire.
“We’re still trying to piece together whether this is a suspect vehicle or a victim vehicle — or both,” Fomby said.
Gunfire has plagued the neighborhood
Berkeley has had at least 25 other incidents of gunfire in 2020, killing three people and wounding 10, according to a Berkeleyside analysis.
At least five of those incidents — which saw four people wounded — took place in the same neighborhood as the latest shooting.
It was just over a week ago when two separate West Berkeley shootings left a male juvenile and a middle-aged man wounded by gunfire. The teenager was wounded on Eighth Street about two blocks from the latest incident.
In his State of the City address last week, Mayor Jesse Arreguín shared his plan to address gun violence, in response to a question from Berkeleyside.
Berkeleyside will update this post when additional information becomes available.
