Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee released a statement Saturday afternoon following a night of deadly violence in the city in which two people were killed and several others injured in multiple shootings hours after the Oakland First Fridays festival north of the downtown area.
“It’s tragic moments like this morning’s gun violence that left six shot and two dead that remind us we still have so much work to do,” Lee’s statement said.
“While we’ve seen a 30 percent decline in overall crime, every shooting and homicide is one too many, and we must continue our comprehensive public safety efforts so everyone is safe and feels safe. I’ve been in touch with OPD, which has not concluded these shootings were connected to First Friday celebrations. I will stay in contact with OPD as the investigation continues,” the statement said.
Oakland Police Officers Association president Huy Nguyen blamed the mayor and cuts to the police department for the violence in a statement Saturday morning, but a spokesperson for mayor, Justin Phillips, said the department’s budget grew from about $354 million in fiscal year 2023-24 to about $375 million for the fiscal year that just ended, which Lee took office in the final months of.
Lee signed a two-year budget passed by the city council in June that closed a deficit of roughly $265 million. The $4.3 billion budget includes increases to the Oakland Police Department’s overall budget to $386 million in fiscal year 2025-26 and about $411 million in fiscal year 2026-27, according to figures provided by Phillips.
He also pointed to multiple outreach events the mayor had attended in August largely focused on officer recruitment and retention.
No arrests were immediately made in any of Saturday’s shootings, which occurred between 2:15 a.m. and 3:45 a.m. in the Uptown neighborhood of the northern downtown area. At least four people were hospitalized, while two others died from their injuries, according to the Oakland Police Department.
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