Community frustrated after woman shot at while confronting thieves in downtown Oakland

OAKLAND, Calif. - Early Thursday morning, a thief fired shots at a woman who confronted two suspects as they broke into her car in downtown Oakland.

Neighbors said vehicles break-ins and shootings are common in the area, so they're not surprised by what happened.

They said city leaders are overlooking the downtown area and that it took a shooting for police to respond. 

In this incident, there was a large police response to gunshots fired at the car owner around 5:30 a.m.

"It's frustrating and it's nerve racking working in an environment like this," said one woman who works in the area and asked KTVU not to give her name.

She said her car has been broken into four times in a matter of months while parked in the same area.

Neighbors said the target of the shooting, a woman who lives nearby, saw the thieves and confronted them.

Police said one suspect fired a gun but did not hit the victim.

"It's gotten so bad, if you see your car being broken into, it's not worth saying anything," said Adam Rogers who manages Cookies Dispensary located just steps from the incident.    

He shared surveillance video that shows a vehicle pulling up and parking in front of the victim's car.

Someone gets out.

"A car came up. They broke their windows.  Somebody from the apartment yelled at them.  And when they yelled at them, the other people shot back at them," said Rogers.

Police said the suspects ran to the area of 22nd and Telegraph where officers set up a perimeter.

At least one suspect broke the perimeter on foot, ran across all lanes of Interstate 980 and ended up on the other side of the highway near 22nd and West. 

Alameda County Sheriff's deputies flew a drone to help with the search 

But neither suspect was caught.

I would like more police to be on the streets of downtown, walking and driving the streets. It's gotten out of control," said Rogers.  

As for the woman who had her car broken into four times, she shared this surveillance video of one incident-saying that all the break-in's happened during daylight hours

"This is definitely something that has become something we've had to get used to because there hasn't been a stop to it.  So we've had to adjust to it," said the car burglary victim.   

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She and others said they feel helpless. 

They said when they call police, they take a long time to come or victims are directed to file a police report online-which they say seems pointless.