Gunfire erupts at Oakland sideshow, neighbors grow frustrated with leadership

Gunfire erupts at Oakland sideshow, neighbors fed up with city leadership, "it seems like they don’t care."

An East Oakland neighborhood erupted into gunfire early Saturday morning amid an hour-long sideshow, and neighbors say police were nowhere to be found. Residents expressed fear that the next time, stray gunfire might enter an area home and hurt someone.

OAKLAND, Calif. - An East Oakland neighborhood erupted into gunfire early Saturday morning amid an hour-long sideshow, and neighbors say police were nowhere to be found.

Residents expressed fear that the next time, stray gunfire might enter an area and hurt someone.

"I just heard gunshots, like gunshots coming from all directions, people trying to hide. They just fire up in the air and you don’t know where it’s going to land," said a neighbor who asked not to be identified.

The resident was among several neighbors, who told KTVU that sideshows, like Saturday's, were fairly common outside their homes at 98th Avenue and Empire Boulevard, not far from the crime-plagued Hegenberger corridor.

"Like a whole hour. No police. I didn’t hear no sirens at all…Some people were on top of that house's roof. There were fireworks included. There were blue lasers, green lasers," said a neighbor.

The sideshow follows a series of recent town halls across Oakland attended by Mayor Sheng Thao and Police Chief Floyd Mitchell.

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Both pledged during an Aug. 26 meeting to better target sideshows and other crimes through the use of new technology, including drones and cameras and with the help of the California Highway Patrol.

"We know that we don’t have enough police officers. We can’t afford it, but that doesn’t mean that we use that as an excuse or reason not to be sure that people feel safe," said Thao at the town hall in the city's Montclair neighborhood.

"We’re working hard to try to curb this activity. We have a sideshow detail that goes out every Friday and Saturday," said Mitchell.

Mitchell added that part of that effort included looking at ways to redesign intersections. Those who live at 98th and Empire Boulevard said they were still waiting to see the promises made by city leaders kept.

"I’ve been here my whole life, and it has changed, it has changed so much, and it’s frustrating because it seems like they don’t care," said a neighbor.

KTVU reached out to Oakland police and Thao's office for a response to the fears and frustrations about area crime expressed by residents in the neighborhood but did not hear back in time for this report.