Alameda Man Found Guilty In Revenge Shooting

OAKLAND, CA — An Alameda man who allegedly was seeking revenge for the fatal shooting of his son four months earlier was convicted Friday of four counts of assault with a deadly weapon and seven other felony charges for a shooting near San Pablo Park in Berkeley in August 2015.

Jamell Tousant, 40, who has a prior conviction for robbery, is expected to get a state prison term of between 12 and 22 years when he's sentenced by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Kevin Murphy on May 18.

Prosecutor Nick Hamer admitted in his closing argument in the trial that there weren't any eyewitnesses who testified that Tousant was one of the two shooters in the 2800 block of Mabel Street, near Oregon Street, at
about 6:40 p.m. on Aug. 15, 2015.

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But Hamer said a mountain of circumstantial evidence, such as records from his two cellphones, bullets found at his home in Alameda and a photo that Tousant posted on his Facebook page of him posing with an assault rifle with a high-capacity drum style magazine, connects Tousant to the shooting.

Hamer said he believes that the motive for the Berkeley shooting was that Tousant was seeking revenge for the fatal shooting of his 21-year-old son, who was also named Jamell Tousant, in the 1400 block of 90th
Avenue in Oakland at about 6:15 p.m. on April 25, 2015.

The prosecutor said Tousant believed that the people who killed his son belonged to the Berkeley-based Five Fingers Gang, had done research on the gang on his cellphone and thought that the four people who were shot
all belonged to the gang and were involved in his son's death.

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One of those four men was hit in his leg with a bullet and had to be treated at a hospital but none of the four victims cooperated with police, Hamer said.

The second shooter has never been arrested or charged, according to Hamer.

Defense attorney Ernie Castillo admitted that a car that belonged to Tousant was involved in the shooting but said Tousant should be found not guilty because the prosecution can't prove that Tousant was in the car at the
time of the shooting and was one of the shooters.

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Castillo said a witness to the shooting described the driver of the car that was involved the shooting as having short hair and being right-handed, but he said, Tousant doesn't match that description because he's bald and left-handed.

Tousant testified during his trial that he had loaned his car to some friends that day and wasn't at the scene when the shooting occurred.

He said, "I'm too old to shoot people. I didn't shoot anyone."

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But Hamer alleged in his argument that Tousant's testimony wasn't truthful and told jurors, "His story is ridiculous."

Authorities said no one has been arrested and charged in connection with the shooting death of Tousant's son.

Hamer said that when Tousant's son was shot Tousant showed up at the hospital with a rifle and extra bullets and undercover police officers heard him making anti-police statements.

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Hamer said, "From day one he (Tousant) was going to handle it (the investigation into his son's death) his way."

In addition to four counts of assault with a deadly weapon, Tousant was convicted of two counts of shooting at an inhabited dwelling, shooting at an unoccupied vehicle, carrying a loaded firearm in a vehicle, carrying a loaded firearm in a city and two counts of possession of a firearm by a felon.

However, jurors didn't find that Tousant personally fired a weapon in the Berkeley shooting, which was a victory for Tousant because such a finding would have meant he would have faced life in prison.

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Castillo said jurors believed the prosecution failed to prove that Tousant was one of the shooters.

Castillo said he thinks Tousant should have been found not guilty of all the charges but he's glad that he was able to spare Tousant from having to spend the rest of his life in prison.

— Bay City News; Image via Shutterstock