Five suspects involved in a deadly gunfight with a pair of East Oakland pawn shop employees last week came in from Stockton to allegedly rob the place, police officials said.
At about 7:45 p.m. on Sept. 10, four men and one 17-year-old allegedly walked into the Cash 4 Gold pawn shop in the 7100 block of International Boulevard and started assaulting the employees, according to police.
Some of the suspects were armed, as were the two shop employees, and while it is still unclear who shot first, the two groups soon exchanged gunfire, police said.
One of the adult suspects died in the shop, while another adult suspect died after being taken to the hospital.
Three other suspects and one of the employees were injured but all are expected to recover, Oakland Deputy Chief Nick Milan said during a news conference Thursday.
The three surviving suspects were arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted robbery, Milan said.
While it is not clear yet who shot whom, the suspects can be charged with murder because someone was killed during the alleged commission of a felony crime, Milan said.
None of the suspects’ names were released.
The shop employees are cooperating with police and hadn’t been arrested as of Friday, but investigators are still working to determine if they were legally armed, among other things.
“I don’t want anyone to think that we’re in a place to where we want our community to become vigilantes,” Oakland Police Chief Floyd Mitchell said. “But several masked, armed subjects came in there and attempted to rob them, and they defended themselves.”
Lee: ‘Tragic event’ highlights safety need
Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee said the shooting is “tragic, unacceptable and outrageous.”
“While this tragic event highlights the broader regional challenges we face, it also underscores our commitment to protecting Oakland’s residents, workers, and business owners who deserve to be safe and feel safe in their own community,” Lee said in an email Thursday.
Despite this and other recent shootings, Mitchell said the city’s work to reduce crime is paying off.
“When you look at our crime stats, not only are our homicides down over 20 percent, our robberies are down over 35 percent, our violent crime is down over 30 percent across the city,” he said. “What we’re doing in regards to Ceasefire and our violence prevention efforts is working.”
Oakland City Councilmember Ken Houston had another message for people thinking about heading into the city to commit crimes.
“Don’t come to Oakland and do this nonsense because you might not make it out,” Houston said.
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