Oakland police fatally shoot man at scene of pot robbery

OAKLAND — A 20-year-old man shot by Oakland police during a violent confrontation with officers responding to reports of a group of people trying to rob a marijuana grow business died at the scene, authorities said.

The man was an Oakland resident. His name was not released pending notification of his family, police said in a statement Wednesday.

“It is important for us to recognize and remember any time there is an officer involved shooting (OIS) in our community, it impacts the families, officers and members of our community,” the police department said.

The fatal shooting Tuesday happened amid a late-night crime spree throughout Oakland that included robberies of marijuana dispensaries, shoe and electronic stores and coffee shops by armed people traveling in a caravan of several vehicles, officials said.

Officers tried to stop more than a dozen people attempting to rob the marijuana grow business when some of the alleged robbers ran off and others fleeing in vehicles struck three officers, authorities said. An officer fired his weapon, fatally shooting the 20-year-old, police said.

The injured officers were treated at a hospital and released.

Officers arrested more than a dozen people and recovered nine guns during that incident, police said.

Well before dark Tuesday in downtown Oakland, the site of regular protests this year, a large police presence could be seen and several main streets were already barricaded off.

In a span of four hours that night, police responded to at least 10 calls of break-ins, robberies and shootings by “roving teams of armed robbers,” officials said.

In another incident, a security guard was shot in an exchange of gunfire with people trying to rob the marijuana business he was guarding, authorities said.

Oakland police were also investigating the shooting of three men, one 21 and the other two 22, who were shot while in a vehicle. Three other passengers were not injured.

The victims told police they were driving when they heard gunshots and saw that they had been hit.

The coordinated criminal activity is similar to events that happened back in May and June of this year, and has been occurring in other cities across the region, police said.

The department said it is working with other law enforcement agencies in the San Francisco Bay Area "to form a regional response to these violent caravans that target commercial businesses."