A dispute between two acquaintances turned violent Wednesday morning when a third person opened fire at a South Berkeley apartment, leaving its front door riddled with bullet holes.
No one was wounded in the shooting, which took place in the 1900 block of Fairview Street, just east of Adeline Street.
Fairview east of Adeline spans just one block. The generally quiet stretch of mostly single-family residences is also home to the tidy playground at Greg Brown Park and the offices of a local homeless services provider.
On Wednesday just after 11:05 a.m., however, several rounds of gunfire interrupted the otherwise peaceful morning. Police said the incident did not appear random and that the investigation is ongoing. No arrests have been made.
One local resident who asked not to be identified due to the nature of the incident said it began as an argument between two people then escalated when a third person got out of a vehicle and fired several rounds into an occupied apartment. One of those rounds penetrated a dresser inside, but no residents were wounded.
Neighbors on the block, which features front-yard gardens with succulents and mature fruit trees, said Fairview on the west side of Adeline Street tends to see more activity. One resident said Berkeley feels “pretty safe,” but added that, when it comes to the subject of gunfire, “there’s a lot to write about.”
On Wednesday morning, police had stretched yellow crime scene tape across the driveway of the small apartment complex where the gunfire had broken out.
In the driveway, several yellow markers signaled possible evidence from the crime scene. Sticking out of the front door, three long dowels indicated the trajectory of bullets that had been fired into the apartment.
A crime scene technician photographed the scene while police officers worked inside the apartment and canvased the block for possible witnesses.
Berkeley has now had four shootings in 2022
Wednesday shooting was Berkeley’s fourth confirmed incident of gunfire this year. Three of the shootings took place in broad daylight.
Last year, Berkeley didn’t have its first neighborhood shooting until mid-February.
There was an officer-involved shooting in January 2021; BPD’s internal investigation is ongoing but no wrongdoing has been found to date.
Aside from the officer-involved shooting, which left a robbery suspect with a gunshot wound to the jaw, Berkeley did not have a shooting where an individual was wounded until March; that shooting appears to have been deemed self-defense.
This year, Berkeley had three shootings in January alone, one of which left someone wounded: On Jan. 15 at 1:35 p.m., someone fired into a vehicle near Virginia and Seventh streets; no injuries were reported. On Jan. 17 at 3:20 p.m., an 18-year-old man was shot in the leg near Sacramento Market.
The third shooting took place at 11:55 p.m. on Jan. 22. Officers responded to the Tesla Service Center at 901 Gilman St. (near Harrison Street) on a report that a man with a rifle was shooting into the building. Investigating officers found a vehicle and building damaged by gunfire. No additional information was available as of publication time.
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