Several people shot at Oakland Juneteenth celebration, police say
A Juneteenth celebration in Oakland, California, turn༒ed violent when several people were shot, police said.
The Lake Merritt event on Wednesday night was largely pea𝐆ceful, with as many as 5,000 in attendance, until a sideshow involving “motorbikes and vehicles” took place around 8:15 p.m. on the north side of the lake, police said in a news release Thursday.
A fight b🌞roke out down the street from the sideshow and a crowd gathered in the area of the fight, police said.
“During that fight multiple shot💫s rang out,” said✤ Paul Chambers, OPD’s strategic communications manager.
The shooting happened at 8:45 p.m.
While it was not immediately clear how many🧸 people were injured, police said several were struck by gunfire 🎉and were taken to a hospital. There were no reports of deaths.
As officers tried to get the cr💯owd to safe🧸ty several people struck OPD officers, Chambers said.
At least one person was take🀅n into custody for as🍌saulting an officer, he said.
P🍎olice did not say how many officers 🦩were attacked.
A large police pr𒁏esence included as many as two dozen police vehicles and multiple ambulances at the scene,
Police said 28 officers and four sergeants were at ꦯthe scene to monitor the event.
Participants in the celeb🤪ration were seen getting verbal with police with some people criticizing police response, saying they didn’t respond quickly enough when people were inj🌄ured, KTVU reported.
In 2021, a shootin♔g during a Juneteenth celebration at Lake Merritt left several people injured and a 22-year-old San Francisco man dead.
Police said t♐he investigation of Wednesday night’s shooting 💧was ongoing.
