Two men with a gun stole a pair of Nikes from a UC Berkeley student who had arranged to sell them in a parking lot near campus on Monday morning, authorities report. The incident happened just before 10:30 a.m. in the CVS parking lot at 2655 Telegraph Ave. near Derby Street, police said. The victim, a Cal student in his 20s, had arranged to sell his Nikes but the men who showed up to buy them robbed him instead, the Berkeley Police Department said in response to a Berkeley Scanner inquiry. After the armed robbery, the men drove southbound on Telegraph in a silver sedan. Limited descriptions we ..read more

UC Berkeley police warned the community Sunday night about a man who chased a child in University Village before fleeing the scene. Police said the 9-year-old child was playing with friends at Cal's family student housing complex in Albany when an older man began to give chase at about 7:30 p.m. The child had been walking home near Gooding Way and Ohlone Avenue when the incident happened. The man chased the child "briefly until the child was able to elude" him, the University of California Police Department said in a notice Sunday night. UCPD said the man was white and middle-aged, approximate ..read more

Berkeley City Councilwoman Susan Wengraf has organized a virtual town hall Tuesday night for anyone who is concerned about rising crime in the city. The event will take place on Zoom at 7 p.m. The town hall meeting will include a Q&A with Berkeley police, Wengraf said. ⏰ Register online for Tuesday night's public safety town hall. Wengraf organized the event after the City Council received the annual crime report, which showed large increases in several violent crime categories in Berkeley in 2022, including sexual assaults, aggravated assault and shootings resulting in injury or death ..read more

A man was arrested Sunday afternoon in Berkeley after firing a gun at his grandparents during a dispute, according to police and preliminary reports. It was Berkeley's fourth reported incident of gunfire in 2023. The incident took place in the 900 block of Channing Way, near Ninth Street, in West Berkeley just before 2:40 p.m. Sunday. According to the Berkeley Police Department, the man fired one round during the argument, but no one was hit. Berkeley police responded to the area quickly after getting the 911 call. Officers found a man in the immediate area matching the description the caller ..read more

Berkeley has had four shootings and confirmed gunfire reports in 2023. The Berkeley Scanner has created a comprehensive interactive Google Map so you can stay informed about shootings throughout the city and in your neighborhood. As of March 26, one person had been wounded due to a shooting in Berkeley in 2023. There had been no homicides. The Berkeley Scanner will update this map and article when new shootings and gunfire take place. Please let us know if something happens in your neighborhood. There are two types of markers on the map: Large black markers show shootings where at least one p ..read more

In a shocking decision Thursday morning, an Alameda County Superior Court judge rejected a 15-year plea deal in a triple murder case — telling a packed courtroom that he wants a jury to decide. The case had been about to go to trial when newly elected Alameda County DA Pamela Price brokered the deal last month with defense counsel, Richmond-based attorneys David Briggs and Linda Fullerton. On Thursday morning, Judge Mark McCannon told those in attendance that he had spent many sleepless nights trying to determine whether the deal would result in a just outcome. He ultimately said he did n ..read more

Two Berkeley High families are raising concerns this week after their children were attacked by other students in front of the police station in a brazen lunchtime confrontation. Multiple students recorded the attack on their phones and at least one of those videos was posted on a private Instagram account focused on "fight club" activities at Berkeley High, according to screenshots shared with The Berkeley Scanner. The attack was interrupted by a Berkeley police officer who happened to be driving by, said the parents, who granted initial interviews on condition of anonymity out of concern for ..read more

After 10 years with the Alameda County DA's office, veteran trial attorney Charly Weissenbach is walking away. Not because she wants to, but because she feels she has to. "It has been an honor to represent the People of the State of California while fighting for the rights of crime victims in Alameda County. I felt I had the ability to fight for justice every day; to do the right thing, for the right reasons, and in the right way," Weissenbach wrote in her March 10 resignation later, which was quickly leaked to the media by an unknown third party. "Unfortunately," she continued, "I no longer f ..read more

A woman was discovered deceased inside a tent at People's Park near UC Berkeley on Tuesday afternoon, authorities report. The University of California Police Department was alerted Tuesday at about 3:30 p.m. about a possible fatality in the park, authorities said in response to a Berkeley Scanner inquiry. UCPD officers responded to the park and found an unidentified woman deceased inside a tent at the park, in the 2500 block of Dwight Way. As of about 5:20 p.m., UCPD was still on scene investigating and the Alameda County coroner's office had been notified. The incident remains under investiga ..read more

Multiple power outages are affecting thousands of people in Berkeley amid the latest storm to hit the Bay Area. As of about 6 p.m., two people in the Berkeley Hills had reportedly been trapped for an hour in a car at Tamalpais Road and Rose Street beneath power lines and a tree, authorities said. They were awaiting a PG&E response. As of about 6:15 p.m., PG&E said more than 15,000 Berkeley customers were without power and that nearly 83,000 others throughout the East Bay had lost it too. We'll be posting live updates on The Berkeley Scanner's Twitter feed. "I think we have about 50 ca ..read more