2012 Oakland Murder Solved, Police Report

OAKLAND, CA - A suspected gang member was charged with murder for the fatal shooting of a 16-year-old girl outside a liquor store in East Oakland over three years ago, prosecutors said today.

Darius Esters, 21, of Oakland is facing murder and attempted murder charges for the Aug. 8, 2012, shooting. According to police, Tattiaunn Turner was outside a liquor store in the 2700 block of Talbot Avenue with four other people when two suspects opened fire on them at about 11:30 p.m. Turner and her 23-year-old friend were both struck by gunfire. Her friend survived the shooting but Turner was pronounced dead.

Homicide investigator Phong Tran said that after the shooting, multiple witnesses identified Ester as one of two gunmen, who had targeted the four people with Turner in a gang-related shooting. The other three fled the area and have not been identified. According to jail records and police, Esters was arrested on Feb. 20 on a weapons charge and implicated in the murder on Monday.

On Tuesday, prosecutors formally charged him with murder and attempted murder for the shooting. Turner was a resident of 99th Avenue in East Oakland and gave birth to a daughter less than a year before she was murdered.

She had seen her father killed by gunfire a few years prior and her cousin was killed earlier that year. Esters remains in custody without bail and is next scheduled to appear in court on March 30, according to jail records.

--Bay City News