Day Three of Bay Area Protests — 3 Arrested in Oakland Police Headquarters Shooting, Police in Oak

Update, 9:00 a.m., Monday: About 60 people were arrested overnight in Oakland, including three people detained Monday on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon on peace officers. The three allegedly shot at the department’s headquarters from a car just after midnight. No officers were injured, officials said.

Police said the trio was arrested about a mile north from police headquarters but gave no other information.

The occupants jumped out of the car and ran inside an apartment building where they were detained, the East Bay Times reported.

The shooting follows a drive-by shooting Friday outside Oakland’s federal building that left a federal law enforcement officer security guard dead and another injured.

Dozens more were arrested Sunday on suspicion of vandalism and possession of firearms, the department said.

It said there were numerous incidents of break-ins throughout the city and that an officer was injured while responding and taken to the hospital. His injuries are non-life threatening, the department said.

At 7 a.m. Monday, AC Transit announced it was restoring some of its service after suspending all service late Sunday night.

Update, 1:30 a.m., Monday:

San Leandro —  San Leandro’s BayFair Center mall was a focal point late Sunday night. The San Leandro fire department was working to put out a blaze at the Walmart.

Sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Ray Kelly said deputies and local police departments had responded to incidents at several major shopping centers, including San Leandro’s Marina Square and Bay Fair Mall, Hayward’s Southland Mall, Union City’s Union Landing and other locations. Kelly said deputies reported that suspects at Bay Fair opened fire on them.

“I can’t even tell you how overwhelmed they are right now,” Kelly said about emergency responders throughout central Alameda County. “It’s going on all over. We’re trying to intervene to slow it down, but the pace is so rapid it’s almost to the point where we’re irrelevant in responding.”

Update, 12:30 a.m., Monday:

Santa Rosa —  In Santa Rosa, earlier in the evening a group of 300-350 protesters grew in numbers at downtown’s Courthouse Square and moved west to a freeway offramp, blocked by a line of police. After a 45-minute standoff with no altercations, people moved back toward downtown.

KQED’s Gabe Meline captured this moment:

Later, a spontaneous sideshow with spinning cars roared through the intersection of Fourth and Mendocino beneath a steady stream of fireworks. A contingent of activists, eager to redirect energy to the cause of police brutality against black people, managed to overtake the intersection, and push away an unruly group of troublemakers—a scuffle that traveled three blocks. At midnight, police deployed tear gas downtown in several directions, and the crowds dispersed.

San Francisco —  In a press release from the SFPD shortly after midnight, the department said “demonstrations in San Francisco were overwhelmingly orderly and peaceful today.”

SFPD said it has “made approximately 80 arrests in the Market Street, SOMA and Union Square areas for violations of the curfew order or looting.”

Some of these arrests included seizing firearms and explosives.

“We are committed to public safety, and we will not tolerate continued rioting, looting or vandalism that threatens it… we are grateful to the overwhelming majority of San Franciscans who’ve abided by the curfew order and in doing so greatly aided our ability to keep our City safe,” the news release stated.

Update, 11:30 p.m., Sunday:

The AC Transit has suspended service for the rest of the night — all service in Alameda County has been suspended.

Uber and Lyft do not appear to be working in San Francisco and Oakland, and Lyft reportedly told drivers earlier in the day that the app would be down in Oakland this evening as well.

Update, 10:00 p.m., Sunday:

Around 10 p.m. on Sunday police in Oakland took a knee in what appears to be an act of solidarity with protesters.

Update, 9:50 p.m., Sunday:

Pleasanton — Entrances to Stoneridge mall were closed by city officials Sunday night after reports of break-ins, according to the Pleasanton Police Department.

“Please avoid the area and continue to shelter in place,” the Pleasanton Police Department tweeted. “We’re aware this is also happening in neighboring communities and will keep you updated.”

Update, 9:16 p.m., Sunday:

Oakland — AC Transit shut down some bus service Sunday night through the start of Monday, the agency announced at 7:45 p.m.

“Due to increasing demonstrations and unrest, law enforcement in several of our service areas are enacting detours and road blocks [sic] for public safety,” an agency spokesperson wrote, Sunday. “As a result, AC Transit is temporarily suspending bus lines.”

Buses in Richmond and Fremont are still operating, an AC Transit spokesperson wrote. A list of suspended bus lines is available here.

Police blocked off roadways throughout Oakland Sunday as small groups of protesters continued to rally downtown.

A tiger was also reported “on the loose” at Oakland Zoo by Alameda County Sheriffs on Twitter, but that was immediately debunked as the sheriffs followed up with a tweet saying, “Tigers all accounted for at Oakland Zoo.”

Update, 8:50 p.m., Sunday: 

Walnut Creek — A woman was shot and injured in Walnut Creek Sunday night, as crowds of people reportedly broke store windows, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

A restaurant employee said she was shot near a Koja Kitchen restaurant at Olympic Boulevard and Locust Street, according to the Mercury News.

Alameda County sent an alert to residents recommending residents stay home “due to the high number of police actions” in the “greater East Bay.”

Officials warned road and freeway exit closures are expected Sunday night.

Update, 8:15 p.m., Sunday: 

San Francisco — San Francisco’s first night of curfew began with arrests, as demonstrators continued to gather outside City Hall past 8 p.m.

At City Hall just minutes before the curfew fell, one demonstrator who identified themselves as Charmaine N. said, “society is a contract. The people agreed to it. The lawmakers and the government agreed to it. Right no we don’t have a society. What kind of contract do we have? So as a people we need to collectively create another contract.”

Update, 7:10 p.m., Sunday: 

San Jose —Mayor Sam Liccardo announced a seven-day curfew for San Jose, starting Sunday evening.

The curfew will stretch from 8:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. for a week or “until further notice,” Liccardo announced publicly.

“It’s important to hear the message of the protesters because it is a righteous message,” Liccardo said, in a press conference.

San Jose Police Chief Eddie Garcia said more than 400 officers would be on hand for protests in San Jose on Sunday.

Walnut Creek — The city of Walnut Creek issued a curfew order Sunday evening, citing ongoing protest actions they referred to as “civil unrest.”

Announced at 6:10 p.m. on Twitter, Walnut Creek officials said the new curfew is “effective 6:00pm today” and asked that all businesses in downtown Walnut Creek close “immediately.”

“Please ensure your doors are locked & secured,” a city spokesperson wrote, in a tweet.

Oakland — Protesters flocked to Lake Merritt where they gathered peacefully by the hundreds on foot, following a car caravan with thousands of vehicles driving through Oakland on Sunday afternoon.

BART shut down the 12th Street BART station at 6:30 p.m. citing the ongoing civil demonstration, which the agency described as a “civil disturbance.”

San Francisco — Hundreds of demonstrators peacefully marched down Market Street to Union Square on Sunday afternoon, splitting into groups both at City Hall and at the Embarcadero.

San Francisco police were joined by law enforcement from jurisdictions across the Bay Area, as officers briefly blocked an on-ramp to Interstate-80 in the South of Market neighborhood.

BART shut down its San Francisco stations at Powell Street and Civic Center, the transportation agency announced.

“This whole weekend’s protest has been a message to the country and the world that the power is in the people,” Jamal Trulove, an actor from the “Last Black Man in San Francisco” told KQED. He then addressed police in front of City Hall, saying, “Through protest, regardless of how you protest, all voices need to be heard.”

Update, 5:20 p.m., Sunday: 

Oakland — More than 5,000 vehicles lined up for miles, from the Port of Oakland to Lake Merritt, to protest the killing of Minneapolis man George Floyd, and other black people at the hands of police, Sunday afternoon.

Horns honked. Signs waved from windows. The cars rolled all the way into the horizon, in what was described by organizers Anti Police-Terror Project as a caravan for justice.

The scene was relatively peaceful, in contrast to protests Friday and Saturday nights in Oakland and San Francisco, where police and demonstrators clashed through the night.

BART closed its 12th Street Oakland BART station near 6 p.m., citing demonstrations in Oakland Sunday.

One of those protesters pushing for change from behind the wheel, Khahil White, says it’s beautiful to see everyone out supporting Black Lives Matter. White says watching Floyd killed by a police officer on video was traumatizing, but felt he had to see it because he’s a black man in America.

Lisa Kelly is another four-wheeled protester and a teacher who lives in Oakland. Kelly said, “I’m here to protest the injustice of people who look like me black people being murdered, being killed by the police and they’re being I’m not even asking for justice because justice would be them being so alive masking for accountability for the people who kill them.”

Drivers met in Middle Harbor Shoreline Park at 2 p.m. and circle the area, while others drove down 14th Street and wound their way through Oakland. Within an hour the drivers were met by a group of demonstrators on bicyclists, showing two-wheeled solidarity.

The Oakland Police Department confirmed in a statement that more than 5,000 vehicles arrived for the protest.

The Anti Police-Terror Project, in a statement, said outrage should also reach a boiling point when other black people are killed by police in the United States.

In a Saturday press conference, Mayor Libby Schaaf plead with demonstrators to not further damage Oakland businesses. Friday night, many storefront windows downtown were broken or vandalized.

“People came out in Oakland to express their understandable anger about the death of George Floyd,” Schaaf said, Saturday. “But that rage crossed an unacceptable line. We are sickened to wake up this morning to the destruction and violence to our beloved Oakland.”

In calling for action on Sunday, however, the Anti-Police Terror Project said it is often black lives that are met with violence.

“The legacy of white supremacy in this country, perpetuated by its leaders and decision makers, sees Black, Brown and Indigenous bodies as expendable,” the group wrote. “We are routinely murdered for walking, driving, breathing, jogging, selling cds, having a mental health crisis, sitting in our living rooms, sleeping in our beds, cashing a check, walking into our homes, looking like someone else, buying an ice tea, standing outside of a party, shopping at Walmart, showing our valid gun licenses, selling cigarettes, standing in our grandmother’s backyard, sleeping in our car, riding our bikes, in short, living our lives — and then denied any form of accountability or justice.”

This is a developing story, please check back for updates. 

KQED’s Susie Neilson contributed to this report. This story includes reporting from The Associated Press.

Copyright 2020 KQED