Oakland sees mounting plague of gun violence deaths in 2020 as COVID pandemic rages

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    OAKLAND, CA (KPIX) — When it comes to crime and safety, Oakland is a tale of two cities.

Police say their figures show that, collectively, the Lake Merritt, downtown, uptown and West Oakland neighborhoods experienced 12 homicides in the first 11 months of 2020.

For East Oakland that number during the same period was 88 homicides.

The farther east you go, the more shootings and killings.

From the Eastlake neighborhood to the San Antonio district, 21 people were slain and 93 people injured in shootings.

From Fruitvale to 66th Avenue: 24 dead and 91 wounded.

When you get deeper in East Oakland — from the Coliseum to the San Leandro border, you’ll see the biggest number of homicides among all the districts — 43 people killed and 172 people shot.

Out of 100 homicides this year six victims were minors compared to none last year. One of those kids was 16-year-old Aaron Pryor, a star football player at Skyline High School who was gunned down near his home.

The other kids were Ivan Sanchez, 15, Nandi Perry, 16, Hasan Humphries, 17, Jaleel Harris, 17 and Noel Dominguez , 17.

Oakland is heading in the wrong direction. The last time the city saw more than 100 killings was 2012 when it was ranked the third most dangerous city in the nation. Since then, there had been a steady decline toward a record low of 68 homicides just two years ago.

Oakland city leaders credited that turnaround to Operation Ceasefire an intervention program that identifies high-risk individuals like gang members and offers them jobs and services.

Operation Ceasefire was suspended for much of the year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Oakland’s interim police chief Susan Manheimer also blames the increased gun violence on the closure of schools, recreation centers and athletic programs. She says more kids are caught up in criminal activity because they have no structure and no mentors.

Manheimer says the early release of inmates due to COVID-19 outbreaks in jails put more dangerous people back on the street.

The city knows it’s fighting an uphill battle. They relaunched Operation Ceasefire in late October to try to slow down the violence.

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