After Oakland killing spree, top cop pleads, 'Give us a break'
OAKLAND, Calif. - Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong had a simple message Tuesday outside City Hall in the wake of a spree of deadly shootings in the city: put down the guns.
"Six homicides in four days. Give us a break. Give this community a break," said the top cop, flanked by mothers who have lost children to gun violence and other communtiy advocates.
"It's a terrible experience for all of us to have to come before our city and beg for the help that we need. That help really exists within our community," Armstrong said.
Brenda Grisham, whose son Christopher Jones, 17, was shot and killed in Oakland in 2011, said, "You can't win a game if you never get on the field. And with everybody standing on the sidelines, we will have the same problem."
Grisham said, "It takes all of us to make a difference. It's not a racial issue. All races are being affected by the violence. But the one thing about it is, you can help make a difference as well
Former Oakland City Councilmember Lynette Gibson-McElhaney described herself as an "angel mom" and "angel grandma," having lost loved ones to violence.
"We come together today so that when our babies die, you feel it. It's not just something to pass by, or to flip or go to like it's a commercial," she said.
The rally came after a particularly violent past few days in Oakland.
On Friday night, Daven Woolfok, 36 ,and Tyrone Banks, 46, were killed in a pair of retaliatory shootings near 29th and Martin Luther King Jr. Way in West Oakland. Mortally wounded, Banks, who was driving a car, then ran over and killed bicyclist Tonnell Williams, 48.
Then on Saturday morning, Maurice Wilson, 43, was found shot and killed in a car near Sycamore and MLK. Police say Wilson's killing was not linked to the incidents that left three men dead.
On Sunday, Kapree Anderson, 22, was found shot and killed in a car that crashed on Park Boulevard near Brooklyn Avenue.
And on Monday afternoon, a 13-year -old student at Madison Park Academy in the Sobrante Park neighborhood was shot and wounded in what police said was "not a deliberate school shooting." A 12 year old was taken into custody
"What more do you need to say?" asked Terry Wiley, Alameda County chief assistant district attorney, referring to the school shooting. "There should be outrage at that, and we need to see more outrage by the community
Rev. Harry Williams of Ground Game Ministries said, "A 13-year-old shot by a 12-year-old at a school here in Oakland. That is our biggest problem in Oakland - it's not bullets, it's apathy."