Update, Sept. 13: The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office has charged an 18-year-old Oakland man in the armed robbery of two men near UC Berkeley Sunday.
Around 7:44 a.m. Monday, a UC Police Department officer spotted a white pickup in the area south of the UC Berkeley campus and notified Berkeley police. When BPD officers arrived, they attempted to stop the vehicle on Telegraph Avenue near Blake Street. The suspect fled and officers pursued the vehicle through several streets in Berkeley until it reached the westbound dead-end of Russell Street near San Pablo Park. The suspect fled into the neighborhood but officers located him on a rooftop a few blocks away.
The suspect was also charged with eluding police and a criminal enhancement for using a firearm.
Original, Sept. 12: Two men in their 20s were robbed at gunpoint early Sunday morning, Berkeley police said.
At about 1:33 a.m., two men were walking eastbound on Dwight Way when a white pickup truck stopped near the crosswalk at Benvenue Avenue, police said. The passenger of the truck got out, armed with a firearm and demanded their property. One of the men dropped his backpack, which included a laptop, and the pair ran away.
The suspect was described as a male in his 30s, wearing a dark-colored sweatshirt, black cargo-style pants and a surgical mask, according to police. The suspect was seen getting into a newer-style white pickup with a covered bed. The pickup, driven by an unknown person, was last seen going southbound on Benvenue Avenue.
It was initially reported that the weapon was an AR-15 but Berkeley police said that the type of firearm is still under investigation.
Anyone with information about this robbery can call Berkeley police at 510-981-5900.
