After police layoffs, the violence continues in Oakland...

[alp227]

July 15: "Oakland Police Layoffs Reduce Force By Nearly 10%" (KPIX-TV) Talks between the city and police union broke down, and 80 officers were laid off. Since then, Oakland has continued to be the usual Wild Wild West as it has been.

July 17: "Man killed by BART, Oakland police identified" (San Francisco Chronicle)...as 48-year-old Fred Collins (not Phil, sorry) of Oakland. Police responded to a 911 call about a man with a knife on the Fruitvale station (yes, the same Fruitvale station where Oscar Grant was shot, and the officer is awaiting sentencing right now), and Collins began screaming "shoot me" and allegedly tried to stab officers.

July 18: "I-580 shootout suspect mad at left-wing politics" (SF Chron)...now THIS is interesting. 45-year-old parolee Byron Williams (of the small town of Groveland in Tuolumne County) was pulled over by Highway Patrol in Oakland for speeding and unsafe lane changes. Williams, who was wearing body armor, began shooting the officers with at least two of these weapons: rifle, handgun, and shotgun. The officers shot back and hit Williams multiple times; in the end there was only property damage to the CHP cars. Explosives were also found in Williams's car, which belonged actually to his mother. Williams's mother described Byron as an unemployed felon angry at Congress for "railroading through all these left-wing agenda items".

However, just like a lot of the rioters in Oakland during the Oscar Grant case, Williams is an outsider. Let's get back to Oakland criminals.

July 18: "Job hopeful from Virginia is slain in Oakland" (SF Chron): 45-year-old Jin Hong Kang from Fairfax, VA was to be interviewed by Google today. However, at 11:30PM last night, two men went to Kang's rental car and demanded money; one shot Kang.

July 18 (just 10 minutes before Kang was shot): "Sniper opens fire at Oakland police officer" (SF Chron): Someone from an apartment building, which has many public housing units, shot a police officer who was conducting a traffic stop. The police swarmed the area but failed to find the shooter.

Sigh. What the hell was the city council thinking? No wonder Byron Williams drove all the way to Oakland with his explosives and guns...maybe he wanted to start a private militia?

[mackerel]

1. Give it six months and it will be just like Vallejo.