BERKELEY— Police finally arrested a suspect following the latest outburst of gunfire ricocheting through South Berkeley, a neighborhood plagued by a surge of shootings this year. Most of this gunfire is believed related to an ongoing gang war in the state’s second-most densely populated city.
Jahkyl Knight, 22, of Richmond, was arrested October 28, near California and Oregon streets, where gunshots were reported by neighbors, but no one was found injured. It’s the same part of the city where two victims were killed, two teenage boys were wounded and several houses were hit by bullets.
Multiple shootings have occurred in South Berkeley, mostly near San Pablo Park, but also in other neighborhoods, including near the Berkeley campus of the University of California. Shots have also been fired at bicyclists and moving cars.
Knight has been linked to some of the shootings, but not the most recent incident on October 28, where no one was reported injured and no property was damaged. While investigating, police spotted Knight in the vicinity and questioned him, because he is a suspect in previous shootings elsewhere. Knight was taken into custody shortly afterwards, whom police said admitted to some of the shootings which occurred this year.
Knight was booked on 14 felony charges involving shootings on May 17, September 18 and 21. His charges include attempted murder, shooting at a moving vehicle, several loaded weapons charges, assault with a firearm, shooting at an inhabited dwelling and child abuse. He is being held at Santa Rita Jail without bail.
This year has been unusually violent for Berkeley, where two residents have been killed – a 22-year-old man shot near the intersection of Burnett and Mabel streets in August and a 19-year-old man slain in September near the intersection of Fairview and Harper streets.
Three teenagers riding inside a car were shot and wounded on the 1100 block of Parker Street in February.
A young man was shot and wounded near tennis courts in San Pablo Park in March. A teenager was shot coming out of a restroom near basketball courts in San Pablo Park in May, apparently after a drug deal dispute.
Another teenager was shot and wounded walking near the intersection of Russell and Sacramento streets in September. A bicyclist also was shot at, but not hit near Oregon and Dohr streets in September.
There was also a shoot-out between occupants of two cars speeding in West Berkeley for six blocks, near Ninth Street in September, and a 17-year-old was shot in the face, the second time he was wounded by gunfire in Berkeley this year.
A 35-year-old man was shot and wounded near the U.C. Berkeley campus on October 15.
In between all these shooting incidents, gunshots were fired several times on different days near San Pablo Park and elsewhere in Berkeley, with no reports of any injuries.
