Police are investigating Thursday after a man walked into a Berkeley hospital with a gunshot wound, authorities report.
The location of the shooting — and whether it even happened in Berkeley — was unknown as of publication time.
Berkeley police spokesman Officer Byron White said Alta Bates staff called police just before 11:50 a.m. to report that a man with a gunshot wound had arrived at the hospital, which is located at 2450 Ashby Ave. near Telegraph Avenue.
White said no other information was immediately available, such as the man’s condition or age, or whether he was taken to another hospital for medical treatment.
Berkeleyside reviewed dispatch recordings from Thursday to learn more. Hospital staff told police the 39-year-old man walked into the hospital alone, according to the recordings. Staff said he was “not answering many questions.”
The man was “talking fine,” hospital staff said, according to the recordings, but would not answer questions about who had shot him or exactly where the incident happened.
The man later told police the shooting might have happened in Berkeley or Oakland, according to the recordings. He had been coming from Vallejo and got off at Ashby Avenue. He told police, who described the man as “not very cooperative,” that a passerby drove him to the hospital.
Police also got a secondhand report shortly before 11:45 a.m. Thursday about a woman who had heard a single gunshot near University Avenue and Frontage Road in West Berkeley, according to the radio broadcast. Berkeleyside has asked police about the report and whether it has been confirmed or was related to the wounded man.
There have been more than 30 shootings in Berkeley in 2020, killing four people and wounding 10 others.
Last week, a 19-year-old pregnant mother was killed in a drive-by shooting in South Berkeley. Several days later, gunfire erupted on a block where some of her family members live, wounding no one but damaging numerous vehicles.
Earlier this week, Berkeley city officials pledged to look into the creation of a program like Ceasefire that would focus more of the city’s resources on violence prevention. Officials and community members alike have said the violence needs to stop.
Berkeleyside will update this story when other details are available.
Update, 5 p.m. BPD provided the following information about the sound of gunfire in West Berkeley earlier in the day: “At 11:42 am, officers responded to the area of University/Frontage road after receiving a call from CoB staff that they heard from another person who had been driving in the area that they heard a loud sound. When officers arrived in the area, they contacted the person who actually heard the sound and the explained that they heard a loud ‘boom’ sound, but could not tell from what direction the sound came. Officers also searched the area and did not find any evidence of gunfire.”
