Crime & Safety
Berkeley Shootout: 3 Arrests, 1 On The Run
The suspects were tracked down over a 3 week period.
BERKELEY, CA — Three shooting suspects are in custody after being tracked down and arrested by Berkeley police over the course of three weeks this month, according to police.
The three, along with a suspect still at large, are accused of engaging in an ineffectual shootout with each other on May 1.
Investigators say that a little before 6:40 p.m. that day, two of the suspects, Oakland residents 22-year-old Justin Lofton and 21-year-old Isabella Saturn, drove up to the area around the Stanford Market liquor store near the corner of 62nd and King streets.
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Soon thereafter, the other suspects, Jamel Wilcox, 20, and Deandre Bess, 23, both of Oakland, allegedly got into an argument with Lofton, according to police.
Wilcox is seen on security camera footage from the liquor store allegedly pulling a silver handgun from his sweater pocket and holding it in plain sight, according to a police report of the incident.
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Both men then move around the corner of the store and out of sight of the camera but are soon back in view, running to get into Bess' car, according to the report.
Investigators recovered multiple bullet casings from the scene, and the other suspects' car was found with shattered windows and a bullet hole in the roof.
While both Wilcox and Lofton are alleged to have fired shots at each other, neither man was able to hit their target and no one was injured in the shootout, according to a Berkeley police spokesman.
On May 15, detectives arrested Bess in Oakland and he was charged as an accessory to attempted murder for allegedly helping Wilcox flee the scene of the shooting, according to a charging document filed by the Alameda County District Attorney's Office.
On May 23, Berkeley officers arrested Saturn and Lofton at a home in the 2400 block of East 15th Street in Oakland.
During interviews with investigators, Saturn allegedly confirmed that Lofton shot at the other suspects after getting into an argument with them and admitted to driving Lofton from the scene.
Lofton, who was on probation at the time of the shooting for possessing a machine gun, and Saturn, on probation for grand theft, along with Wilcox, who is still at large, were all charged with attempted murder.
Lofton and Bess were also charged with carrying a concealed firearm inside a vehicle.
— Bay City News
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