One person was killed and three were injured Friday afternoon in a shooting during an attempted robbery of a Brink’s security truck in East Oakland, police and witnesses said.
The attempted robbery took place around 2 p.m. in the parking lot of a NAPA Auto Parts store on the 4400 block of International Boulevard and injured a Brink’s employee at the scene and killed a would-be thief, police said and witnesses. Two other people were taken to hospital with injuries, one of which police described as an innocent bystander.
Two people who said they witnessed the violence described the scene to The Chronicle. Thieves moved onto the Brink’s truck after a security guard entered the NAPA Auto Parts store, leaving a guard with the truck, said Rafael Barrazos, who sells used cars on International Boulevard and was crossing the busy street near a taco truck when filming began.
“They waited until one of the guards was alone,” Barrazos said. “The shots started exploding right after. The way the bullets were flying, I told everyone taking tacos to get off, and it felt like the bullets were flying over our heads.
When the gunfire ended, two people were lying on the ground – the person police say was killed was next to Brink’s truck, and the Brink’s guard came down to the roadway on International, just outside the parking lot where the truck was parked.
Barrazos said he saw an injured, shirtless man run from 44th Avenue to the person lying next to Brink’s truck, grab what appeared to be a gun from the victim, then jump into a white Toyota Rav-4 which fled the scene.
Elizabeth, an Oakland resident, who wished to be identified only by her first name, said the violence erupted as she walked daily through International between 44th and 45th Avenues.
“I saw one man, then another – both with masks on,” Elizabeth told The Chronicle, adding that the shooting had rekindled feelings of anxiety. “You can’t take your kids out whenever you want, you can’t put on jewelry – it’s just gotten out of control here in our neighborhood.”
Before first responders arrived on the scene, a crowd of people tried to help the injured Brink’s worker, a scene captured on video posted to social media. A body could be seen lying next to Brink’s truck.
Officers who arrived pronounced the victim next to the truck dead at the scene, police said. The Brink’s worker was rushed to hospital, police said. Two other men arrived separately at a local hospital, also with gunshot wounds, police added. One was an innocent bystander who had been hit by gunfire, police said.
At least 21 markers indicated shell casings at the scene.
“We know there was a white vehicle involved in this incident that was manned by multiple people,” Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong said at the scene in video released by KTVU. Armstrong said the department was looking for video of the people in an effort to identify them.
A person who answered the phone at the NAPA Auto Parts store declined to discuss the shooting and hung up.
A Brink’s spokesperson said the company was aware of the incident and was working with law enforcement, but could not provide additional information. The company is a global security powerhouse with more than 16,000 security vehicles. Some employees are armed with weapons to protect cash and valuables during transport.
“It’s been a tough week in the city of Oakland,” Armstrong said. “We have seen several homicides this week. We ask the community to continue to help get rid of the guns that plague our community.
The shooting marked the 92nd homicide of the year in Oakland, he said.
The incident comes less than two days after a shooting on Interstate 580 in Oakland killed a man, a case being investigated by the California Highway Patrol. Friday’s attempted robbery marked Oakland’s sixth fatal shooting of the week. On Monday, three people were killed in two shootings in 24 hours. On Tuesday, a double shooting outside City Hall killed one person and injured another.
Joel Umanzor (he/him) and Jordan Parker (he/him) are the editors of the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: joel.umanzor@sfchronicle.com, jordan.parker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jr_umanzor, @jparkerwrites
