Prosecutors Decline to File Charges Against Murder Suspects

Several suspects have been arrested in the fatal shooting of a Stockton man in Berkeley in October 2014 during an apparent gang-related gunfight but prosecutors have so far declined to file any charges. DaMarco Thomas, 21, was shot to death in the area of the Sea Breeze Market and Deli at 598 University Avenue near the entrance of McLaughlin Eastshore State park at about 8 p.m. on Oct. 28, 2014.

The market is next to a frontage road that’s just west side of Interstate Highway 80 adjacent to the University Avenue exit. The homicide is being investigated by East Bay Regional Park District police because it occurred in their jurisdiction.

Park district spokeswoman Carolyn Jones said today that police have investigated the shooting for 15 months, served more than 25 search warrants, searched six residences, seized several vehicles, interviewed dozens of people in the East Bay and Stockton and reviewed surveillance video and computer data. Jones said police believe that Thomas was shot during a gang-related gunfight during a drug sale in the market’s parking lot and that he was with a gang from Oakland that was attempting to rob a gang from Stockton.

She said police believe the Stockton group had come to the Sea Breeze lot to sell marijuana it had advertised for sale on Craigslist to the Oakland gang. One of the suspects was arrested on a warrant in Oakland last Saturday and had tentatively been scheduled to be arraigned in Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland today. But Alameda County District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Teresa Drenick said her office is declining to file charges in the case at this time, pending further investigation.

Park district police say that anyone with information about the case should call their anonymous tip line at (510) 544-2217.

By Bay City News

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