Early Sunday evening, many residents of West Berkeley fled indoors after hearing a staccato of gunshots throughout the neighborhood.
For Tom Boot, who was outside gardening at the time, it wasn’t until the fifth or so “boom” that he realized the sounds were gunshots, not firecrackers. A moment later, he saw the male victim running down Eighth Street. The victim was later pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.
“I heard this young voice,” Boot said. “I heard him start yelling, ‘Help, help I’ve been shot.’ He kept repeating that plea.”
The victim, whom neighbors describe as a slim black man in his late teens or early 20s, collapsed near the intersection of Eighth and Page streets, where Boot found him lying on his back, suffering from “multiple wounds” around the chest and abdomen. Boot then ran to the victim’s side, urging him to stay conscious.
“I said, ‘Open your eyes,’ and he did. He looked at me,” Boot said. “They say if there is a shooting, don’t run to the victim, because you might get shot, too, but it’s a natural impulse to help someone if they say they need help. I was with him, and that’s all I was thinking about.”
Carol Sitea, who lives on Page, said she believes the victim was in an apartment complex playing cards when he was chased, barefoot, out of a house by the shooter. When Berkeley police arrived, Sitea said, they raced down her street, “heatedly pursuing the suspects.”
“It was an out-of-body experience,” Sitea said. “You feel so detached from yourself. I suppose you could get used to it, but I don’t know how.”
Homicide detectives were on site canvassing for witnesses and evidence until early Monday morning, BPD spokesperson officer Jennifer Coats said. She did not say whether a suspect had been apprehended and declined to release any more details until the investigation concludes.
This incident marks Berkeley’s fourth homicide of the year.
In July, Jermaine Davis, 26, was shot and killed on Derby Street near Martin Luther King Jr. Way. In August, 24-year-old Berkeley resident Dustin Bynum was shot and killed at the intersection of San Pablo Avenue and Delaware Street, the same intersection where city resident Zontee Jones, 24, was killed earlier in February.
Despite these incidents, West Berkeley resident James Nguyen, whose home is scarred by bullets from a previous homicide, says he still feels safe in his home.
“After accidents, in a couple hours you forget. Life goes on, things return to normal,” Boot said. “What’s tragic here is, you try to pretend like everything is the same: You’re eating and talking, but all that’s really there (in your mind) is that kid.”
Contact Virgie Hoban at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @VirgieHoban.