A Berkeley resident was shot dead while sitting in his parked car near the corner of Russell and Milvia Streets early Friday evening, marking the city’s third homicide of the year, police said.
Berkeley Fire Department paramedics responded to the scene shortly after 5:10 p.m. when the Berkeley Police Department received reports of multiple gunshots in the area. They found the victim, who family identified as Marcus Mosley, 29, slumped over the steering wheel of his car suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
Paramedics pulled the victim out of the car, laid him on the street and tried to resuscitate him for 15 minutes before he was pronounced dead, according to Sgt. Mary Kusmiss. She said she could not confirm the victim’s name.
Though police could not yet determine a motive for the shooting, Kusmiss said police believe the suspects fled the scene in a vehicle and hope to garner information from neighbors and community members.
“The investigation is so fresh, but little bits are coming together,” Kusmiss said. “We’ll likely be able to piece a puzzle from the neighborhood canvas.”
Standing outside a police tape line surrounding her son’s body, Juanita Ruiz said her son had called her earlier in the afternoon and told her he was on his way home after being away with friends for a few days.
Family members and friends gathered at the scene mourning the death of Mosley, who, according to his mother, lived two blocks away on Ward Street.
Cornelius Adams, who went to Berkeley High School with Mosley, said he has seen too many of his friends die from violence in the city.
“People are dying out here in these streets,” he said standing at the intersection of Russell and Milvia streets. “It takes the world in order to change that … I am in the middle of this. Who’s going to protect me?”
The shooting occurred across the street from a tent city erected to protest proposed state cuts to health care, though Kusmiss said police do not believe there is a connection between the protest and the shooting.
“Anytime there is a loss of life like this … it saddens everybody,” Councilmember Max Anderson said at the scene. “Without knowing the circumstances it’s still tragic.”
Last year, Berkeley Homicide Detail closed seven of nine homicides in the city which has averaged 10 or fewer homicides each year for the past two decades, according to Kusmiss.
Police are asking for anyone with information regarding the shooting to contact the Berkeley Homicide Detail at (510) 981-5741 or the 24-hour non-emergency number (510) 981-5900. Anonymous tips can be placed with Bay Area Crimes Stoppers at (800)-222-TIPS.
Javier Panzar of The Daily Californian contributed to this report.