Kore Chan/Senior Staff

A UC Berkeley student was robbed at gunpoint near Moffitt Library on Sunday evening.

The incident marks the fourth robbery or attempted robbery to occur on campus or on property close to campus since Thursday.

In the Sunday robbery, a UC Berkeley student was walking west on University Drive about 9:11 p.m. when two males approached him, according to a UCPD crime alert released Monday.

One of the perpetrators walked up to the victim, pointed a black handgun at his chest and demanded his cellphone. Before he could comply, the perpetrator pushed the student to the ground. The student dropped his phone, one of the perpetrators picked it up and the two perpetrators fled north on the west side of Haviland Hall, according to the alert.

The armed robbery was the second of its kind this week, after an incident at the intersection of Berkeley Way and Oxford Street early Thursday morning, according to a UCPD crime alert released Thursday. About 5:30 a.m., an armed person struck a 57-year-old UC Berkeley affiliate. The woman fell to the ground, and the perpetrator took her purse and fled the scene.

Later that evening, a 19-year-old student was robbed in front of Unit 3’s Beverly Cleary residence hall while waiting at the shuttle pickup location on Channing Way, according to a UCPD crime alert released Friday. The perpetrator in this incident also pushed the student to the ground before snatching her cellphone and fleeing the scene.

In a fourth incident this weekend, however, a student successfully resisted an attempted theft.

The student was walking between Dwinelle Hall and the Valley Life Sciences Building just after midnight Saturday when three males approached him, according to a UCPD crime alert released Monday. Two of the men stood in front of and behind the student, one issuing verbal threats while the other grabbed his backpack from behind. The student clenched his backpack and began to yell, after which the men fled the scene.

Immediately after each of the four crimes, UCPD searched the area but was unable to locate the perpetrators.

According to a recent Berkeley Police Department report, 221 robberies have occurred within the city from January to June 2013. The report also noted a 67 percent increase  in robberies targeting people with iPhones, smartphones and other small electronic devices in the first six months of 2013 compared with the same months in 2012.

Megan Messerly is a news editor. Contact her at mmesserly@dailycal.org and follow her on Twitter @meganmesserly.

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But an early September shooting in the same location that has been linked to several murders in Berkeley and Oakland has further dampened the mood of an otherwise quiet West Berkeley neighborhood.

On the evening of Sept. 8, Berkeley resident Anthony Medearis was shot and killed after an alleged robbery attempt during a game of dice, according to a probable cause declaration from Berkeley Police Department Officer Shan Johnson. Darnell Williams, a 22-year-old Oakland resident, was arrested that evening in connection with the Medearis shooting.

“It’s like we’re cursed, right here in this particular spot,” said Berkeley resident Janet Guastavino. “A lot of people come and go in that apartment building next door. A handful of them have been really friendly with me. And (Medearis) was one of them.”

In a press conference Tuesday, Oakland police announced charges against Williams not only for the killing of Medearis but also for the July death of an 8-year-old Oakland girl, helping piece together a string of homicides that rattled neighborhoods in Berkeley and Oakland.

The fact that Williams’ arrest connected the incidents in the two cities did not surprise Oakland Mayor Jean Quan.

“It’s always happened that way,” Quan said. “Gangs don’t have boundaries.”

In 2009, four members of an Oakland gang killed Charles Davis near the corner of 10th Street and Allston Way in West Berkeley. According to prosecutors, the four were looking for Charles Davis’ brother Jermaine Davis, but when they could not find him, they killed Charles Davis instead.

On July 12, the four were sentenced to life in prison without parole by Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland.

A probable cause declaration from Oakland police Officer Robert Rosin sheds light on the day’s events after the sentencing. In what police termed a “retaliatory shooting,” Jermaine Davis was shot and killed shortly before 7 p.m. on the 1800 block of Derby Street in Berkeley. In retaliation for Jermaine Davis’ death, Williams and Joseph Carroll, who is a cousin of Jermaine Davis, allegedly targeted a man whom police have identified only as “John Doe,” Rosin wrote in the declaration.

According to Rosin’s declaration, Williams and Carroll met at an East Oakland residence and determined the address of Doe’s children and their mother in Oakland’s Dimond neighborhood. Carroll traveled to Antioch and allegedly confronted Doe at a gas station, Rosin wrote. The details of the confrontation, however, remain unclear.

Eight-year-old Alaysha Carradine was sleeping over at her friend’s Dimond neighborhood home. About 11:18 p.m., she answered the doorbell. Multiple shots fired through the doorway killed Carradine and injured her friend, the friend’s brother and the friend’s grandmother, according to police.

Carroll was arrested in Harris County, Texas, in late September and was charged along with Williams in the slaying of Carradine, Oakland police announced in the Tuesday press conference.

Outside the home where Carradine was killed, there are no visible signs of the July confrontation. But to many residents of the neighborhood, memories of the incident remain fresh.

Jamaal Fowler, Carradine’s stepbrother, said he never would have expected an incident in the neighborhood.

“Especially over here, it’s so quiet,” Fowler said. “At least they caught (Williams). (It’s) some type of justice.”

Oakland City Councilmember Libby Schaaf, whose district includes the Dimond neighborhood, said she would like to see more coordination between police and social services.

“These are the kind of murders that have ripple effects,” Schaaf said. “For myself, every time I hear the doorbell ring in my house, I feel fear. It’s again more evidence that we’ve got to intervene in these retaliatory cycles of violence.”

West Berkeley residents also described a peaceful neighborhood caught off guard by violence. Guastavino, who saw Medearis five to six times a week, says the arrest of Williams brings little solace.

“It doesn’t bring (Medearis) back,” Guastavino said. “It was just nice to have someone to smile and wave at.”

Staff writer Tahmina Achekzai contributed to this report.

Chris Yoder covers crime. Contact him at cyoder@dailycal.org and follow him on Twitter @christiancyoder.

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Kelly Fang/Senior Staff

An electrical wire theft, which UC Berkeley officials believe may be linked to the on-campus explosion, is part of a larger trend of copper thefts on campus and in the city.

Although UCPD is conducting an ongoing investigation of Monday’s theft of high-voltage copper wiring from a campus electrical facility, multiple instances of copper theft — from construction materials, decorative plaques and even toilet flushers — have occurred on campus.

The copper wiring was taken from a facility near the Big C trail, according to a UCPD Daily Activity Bulletin. The incident, however, highlights a prevalence of copper theft at UC Berkeley that, while sporadic, is costly to the campus.

Police are actively investigating the theft but do not have any suspects at this time, UCPD spokesperson Lt. Eric Tejada said.

“We have some leads in the case — there was evidence left behind,” Tejada said. “We are hoping to get some fingerprint or DNA evidence off of it.”

Tejada said that copper theft is something UCPD deals with on a regular basis on campus and that thieves commonly cash in the metal at recycling centers.

On Jan. 20, 2011, a grand theft of 500 pounds of copper wiring from Memorial Stadium while it was still under construction cost the campus $2,000, according to UCPD crime logs.

These thefts are not always crimes of opportunity but are often highly planned, Berkeley Police Department records show.

On Aug. 22, a theft of 30 feet of copper coaxial communication cable from a utility pole in northwest Berkeley interrupted telephone and cable television service to numerous homes in the surrounding area, according to a police alert on the city of Berkeley’s website.

Similar incidents occurred in a nearby city, where witnesses reported seeing a boom-equipped utility truck and workers who were wearing hard hats and orange safety vests and appeared to be doing “legitimate work,” according to the alert.

Thefts of copper increase as the price per pound increases, so because the current price of copper is on the rise, the city and its citizens must be even more vigilant, said BPD spokesperson Officer Jennifer Coats in an email.

As of Thursday evening, the price of high-grade copper is $3.26 per pound, according to NASDAQ’s website. Local metal recycling companies said they typically buy used copper at a price between $1.50 to $3.00 per pound, depending on quality.

Rafael Pinedo of Lakeside Non-ferrous Metals, a metal recycler in Oakland, said nonferrous metals are typically sold to the company at the 100-pound minimum after a screening process and 72-hour wait period.

Local police monitor the sale and purchase of scrap metal in the Bay Area and have a system in place to notify recyclers about stolen metal. Paul Forkash, the founder of Aaron Metals in Oakland, believes that middlemen are available to take the metal to be sold in different regions.

“There are some people who are not permitted, have no business license, that will buy metal off the street and will load up a truck to take it to Southern California or Nevada,” Forkash said. “The material could be very identifiable, but yet it is being transported so far out of the area that (police) would have no way of tracking it.”

Chase Schweitzer covers crime. Contact him at cschweitzer@dailycal.org and follow him on Twitter @ChaseSchweitz.

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About 11:37 p.m., Caffe Mediterraneum owner Craig Becker confronted a man he saw reaching into the cafe’s tip jar. Becker followed him toward the exit, and a physical confrontation ensued. Becker was kicked by three men and threatened with a handgun.

“We ended up getting into a fistfight,” Becker said. “Some of the customers were helping, and (the suspect) had some friends, and they tipped over a table and stuff, broke some of the marble, broke some dishes and then ran off. Basically, that was it.”

The perpetrators fled south on Telegraph, and moments later, witnesses heard gunshots, according to police. Officers later located a discarded firearm on the 2600 block of Regent Street.

Police were on the scene within minutes. Berkeley Police Department and UCPD detained two of the suspects as they attempted to flee, and officers found the third suspect after searching the area. BPD identified the suspects as Jeremiah Lee, 19, Willie Smith, 18, and Markeise Prince, 19.

“I think the police did a great job,” Becker said. “I was surprised how fast they came.”

Becker suffered a swollen lip and scrapes on his face but sustained no major injuries as a result of the confrontation. He said no one else suffered any major injuries.

Chris Yoder covers crime. Contact him at cyoder@dailycal.org and follow him on Twitter @christiancyoder.

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Just a month after the December massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in which 20 schoolchildren and six staff members were killed by an armed intruder, the Berkeley district allocated about $50,000 to have school security consultant Edu-Safe Associates audit its safety policies. About $30,000 of that has been spent so far. After the district reviews the results of the audit, it will release a report and possible recommendations to the school board.

Mark Coplan, a district spokesperson, said the audit was not conducted to modernize outdated safety policies but rather to improve already sufficient plans at the district’s schools. Each of the 20 schools in the district has a comprehensive safety plan that is updated annually.

In March, an armed man was reported near Berkeley High School after a failed robbery. Shortly afterward, Berkeley Police Department advised administrators to implement a campus lockdown “to prevent potential harm from entering the campus and also to prevent kids and adults on campus from exiting into situations that could be extremely dangerous,” said Pasquale Scuderi, Berkeley High School’s principal, in a letter to families and staff.

Two years ago, the same school suffered a string of firearm-related incidents.

“All I was told to do was lock my doors, turn off the lights and draw my window shades down and nothing else,” said Daniel Plonsey, a teacher at Berkeley High School with two sons in the district, of the lockdown in March. “(But) even with an updated safety plan, I don’t think I would know what to do in such an unpredictable situation — how could anyone?”

The district’s hiring of consultants to audit safety policies in January was meant to foster a wider dialogue, Coplan said.

“(A) reason we decided to bring in consultants was that we thought it would be less effective to come up with just a local solution,” he said. “We will come up with better solutions this way.”

Two policies many safety experts have pushed are “run, hide, fight” and ALICE (“alert, lockdown, inform, counter and evacuate”). Both are strategies for what to do in the event of a campus intrusion, and both advocate attacking the intruders.

Multiple school districts in the East Bay are considering adopting ALICE, including Pleasanton Unified School District.

Glen Sparks, a coordinator for the Pleasanton district, said that while his district is considering the program, it will more likely draw up its own intruder-safety protocols through cooperation with Pleasanton Police Department.

Berkeley Unified School District enjoys a similarly close relationship with the city police department, said Jennifer Coats, public information officer for BPD.

“BPD has a longstanding relationship with BUSD, and we will continue to work together towards campus safety,” she said.

Contact Nico Correia at ncorreia@dailycal.org.

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Maliq Nixon left no student group untouched.

A UC Berkeley sophomore and a political activist, Nixon was pronounced dead early Saturday morning at Stebbins Hall, a Northside co-op on Ridge Road where he was living. He was 19.

The cause of death is unknown, according to the Berkeley Police Department.

Since Saturday, there has been an outpouring of condolences on social media and from Nixon’s friends as they recall his infectious spirit.

A history major who friends say was known for his strong convictions and tireless energy, Nixon was active in campus politics. Last year, he volunteered for Cal Berkeley Democrats, interned at the Gender Equity Resource Center and worked on multiple campaigns for the campus political party CalSERVE. This year, he was already hard at work volunteering for CalSERVE Senator Briana Mullen.

“If you were to ask someone if they knew Maliq Nixon, they would know Maliq Nixon,” said CalDems President Sofie Karasek. “He was one of those people who you could bond over knowing. He brought people together just by virtue of being himself.”

Despite having a packed schedule, Nixon made time to enjoy a number of outside interests, according to close friend Ross Cunningham. He was always listening to rap group OFWGKTA, and he loved La Burrita horchatas. He also used to carry a purse — a habit Karasek remembered fondly.

“Even if he wasn’t happy, he’d make sure that other people were,” said UC Berkeley junior Marcel Jones, who knew Nixon through CalSERVE.

Many friends remember Nixon as a captivating orator. His voice would rise in volume as he became more and more engrossed in a debate.

Caitlin Quinn, a CalSERVE senator, said she first took notice of Nixon’s civic engagement before he arrived at UC Berkeley. The incoming freshman was an avid poster on the Class of 2016 Facebook page, where he often engaged in debates. While most freshmen were just settling into the residence halls, Nixon helped Quinn register incoming students to vote.

Cunningham, a UC Berkeley sophomore, also connected with Nixon early in their freshman year. The pair met during Welcome Week and quickly developed a close friendship.

“He lived in his head, often quiet and withdrawn, but he was always willing to talk with you when you’re feeling upset,” Cunningham said in a Facebook message. “He gave so much and expected nothing in return.”

At the time of his death, Nixon was working for Mullen, advocating greater access to mental health services on campus. Mullen said Nixon felt the university “wasn’t doing enough.”

Mullen and others recall Nixon advocating the inclusion of Northside co-ops in the ASUC-sponsored Berkeley redistricting map at a recent ASUC Senate meeting — another issue about which he was vocal.

“He was at every senate, every committee meeting,” Mullen said. “You couldn’t pay most Cal students to sit through those.”

Interim Dean of Students David Surratt said the campus has reached out to Nixon’s family since the death was announced. Plans for a memorial service are pending, Quinn said.

“He was very passionate and very radical, but he would be really really respectful of people that wouldn’t always agree with him,” Quinn said. “And that’s rare. I was really looking forward to seeing where he was going to go.”

Contact Libby Rainey and Savannah Luschei at newsdesk@dailycal.org

Correction(s):
A previous version of this article incorrectly said that Maliq Nixon was a prospective history major. In fact, he was a declared history major.

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Krishna Ferreira, 23, was arrested and booked into Santa Rita Jail in connection with the murder of 24-year-old Dustin Bynum, according to the alert. Detectives have been collecting evidence and pursuing leads in relation to Bynum’s murder since August.

On the evening of Aug. 1, BPD patrol officers responded to multiple reports of shots fired, with a victim down on the 1800 block of San Pablo Avenue. Officers arrived on scene and discovered Bynum suffering from gunshot wounds. Bynum was transported by Berkeley Fire Department to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The suspect was located and arrested by BPD  in San Leandro, the crime alert said.

Ferreira is scheduled for arraignment Sept. 12 at 2 p.m. at the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse in Downtown Oakland, and he remains in custody without bail, according to inmate records of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office.

Bynum’s murder was Berkeley’s third this year. On Sunday, an adult male was shot and killed in West Berkeley at 1400 Eighth St., marking Berkeley’s fourth homicide of the year.

Matt Trejo covers crime. Contact him at mtrejo@dailycal.org.

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Sean Goebel/File

Berkeley City Council will consider a grant that would fund increased enforcement of underage drinking laws at its meeting Tuesday.

If approved, the grant would provide Berkeley Police Department with $75,500 to fund various measures, such as undercover sting operations, to combat underage drinking.

“The money allows us to do the types of operations that we typically wouldn’t be able to do without funding,” said BPD officer Steve Rego.

Each year, the state’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control selects local police agencies to fund and assist in the enforcement of alcohol-related laws. The department has awarded grant money to BPD each year since 2003.

According to the recommendation submitted to the City Council, BPD plans to identify sites where alcohol is most accessible for students and begin a dual strategy — involving education and enforcement — to prevent sales to underage buyers. BPD also plans to work closely with UCPD on these issues, said BPD spokesperson officer Jennifer Coats.

“The program itself is definitely useful in trying to help us deter alcohol-related crimes,” Coats said.

In past years, BPD has used grant money to fund overtime for Party Patrol enforcement teams, investigate adults who buy alcohol for minors and educate businesses on alcohol laws. BPD also works from the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control agents on these operations, Rego said.

Alcohol abuse by minors remains an issue police are trying to curb. Since residence hall move-in day, UCPD has responded to 13 alcohol-related illness incidents, prompting BPD to dispatch plainclothes officers to areas near fraternities as well as other popular locations on Southside.

In 2011, UCPD arrested 119 people for liquor-law violations on campus and took disciplinary action on another 608, and BPD arrested 40 people, according to the 2012-13 UC Berkeley Annual Campus Safety Report.

Councilmember Kriss Worthington, however, wants the City Council to explore alternative methods for curbing underage drinking, such as using social media campaigns to educate students.

“The city’s been doing this for many years,” Worthington said about the grant. “I don’t think this grant will do a single thing to adjust the high number of alcohol-related hospitalizations.”

Similarly, Roland Peterson, executive director of the Telegraph Business Improvement District, believes Southside businesses likely will remain unaffected by increased law enforcement.

“The vast majority of businesses are responsible, so I don’t think there is any cause for concern,” he said.

Worthington said the city should use these grants to promote positive alternatives to alcohol rather than punish businesses that are “tricked into breaking the law” through undercover operations.

“If you want to reach a large number of people, I think you need to use modern tools to communicate to them,” he said. “What we’re doing now is such a 20th-century concept.”

Alison Fu covers city news. Contact her at afu@dailycal.org.

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Nathaniel Solley/Staff

After 30 days of camping in front of the Berkeley main post office, protesters hoping to prevent the sale of the building vacated the property by Thursday morning.

On Wednesday evening, Berkeley Police Department removed the tents in front of the post office in Downtown Berkeley, said Officer Jennifer Coats, spokesperson for BPD. Citing growing safety concerns, BPD and U.S. Postal Service investigators asked the protesters to leave the post office steps.

In an Aug. 26 letter addressed to the mayor and City Council members, City Manager Christine Daniel expressed concerns about increased “criminal activity” related to the encampment, including incidents of physical assault, several arrests for weapons possession and a serious dog bite.

“It just wasn’t safe,” said U.S. Postal Inspector Jeff Fitch. “People were setting up tents on steps, and they were utilizing garbage cans in the lobby as restrooms. There was alcohol, and some people even slept on the roof.”

According to Fitch, postal investigators and police handed out notifications of possible arrest to protesters Monday.

“It is my understanding the few people that were there last night left on their own,” Coats said. “Berkeley Police Department went and collected what appeared to be abandoned property.”

Coats said that property collected during the removal process had been booked for safekeeping and that no arrests were made when police cleared the property.

However, according to an online post by the Berkeley Post Office Defense, a loose collection of individuals working to challenge the sale, many of the protesters were attending a march in support of Trayvon Martin in Oakland when about 20 police officers “chose to move in” on the encampment in Berkeley. The officers confiscated belongings without warning and removed the tents, the post says.

An appeal filed by Mayor Tom Bates to stop the sale of the post office was dismissed Tuesday by the Postal Regulatory Commission.

Despite these events, the fight is not over for the protesters, said David Welsh, a retired letter carrier who had been on the Berkeley post office’s steps since July 27. Welsh said that although the encampment has ended, protesters still are taking steps to raise community awareness.

“We’re having a celebration on Saturday to celebrate the monthlong encampment,” Welsh said. “The next step is to have a concert and teach-in, which will be on the steps.”

Contact J. Hannah Lee at jhlee@dailycal.org.

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Sean Conners/Staff

City representatives, campus officials and student leaders met Thursday evening to discuss growing concerns about student safety in the neighborhoods south of campus. Attendees proposed a number of short-term solutions, including increasing the prevalence of well-lit areas and organizing pedestrian safety campaigns in Berkeley.

The discussion was part of an event organized by the office of ASUC External Affairs Vice President Safeena Mecklai and included a walking tour of low-light and high-crime areas on Southside. The purpose of the event was to identify safety concerns and provide a forum for discussing viable solutions for the future. The roughly two-mile tour commenced at 9:30 p.m. and included low-lit areas such as the intersection of Dwight Way and Regent Street, Etna Street and part of Piedmont Avenue.

Data released by Berkeley Police Department earlier this month show that many Berkeley neighborhoods have seen an uptick in serious crimes in the past year. Roughly 800 crimes were reported within a one-mile radius of Telegraph Avenue and Bancroft Way from February to June, according to a PowerPoint presented by the external affairs vice president’s office at the event. The most common crimes reported were theft and larceny, followed by automobile break-ins.

Berkeley City Councilmember Gordon Wozniak proposed combining or replacing existing lights with more environmentally friendly LED bulbs, a solution he said could be implemented within the next couple of years. Councilmember Kriss Worthington also recommended immediate changes, such as trimming foliage and fixing broken lamps, but emphasized the necessity of a long-term plan of action.

“Fundamentally, if we want to see significant improvement, we have to be more visionary and have a bolder, more comprehensive approach,” Worthington said at the discussion. “I think we need the short-term fixes, but we also need to have a pedestrian improvement plan.”

UCPD chief Margo Bennett and BPD chief Michael Meehan both raised the issue of educating students about basic pedestrian safety beyond citywide public works.

“So far, there’s no piece about pedestrian safety,” Meehan said. “How do we get the word out to students about paying attention to their surroundings and being more aware?”

Mecklai said that the ASUC could help spearhead a pedestrian awareness campaign for students and institute safety projects. As the meeting concluded, Mecklai said she hoped the event reinvigorated the city and campus’s commitment to solving these problems. Her office’s next step will be to set up meetings with participants and follow up with those who were unable to attend.

“What I hope this will spur outside the ASUC is the mingling and conversations about how to solve these issues,” Mecklai said after the event. “We want to spur people to work together and create solutions.”

Sophie Ho is the lead campus life reporter. Contact her at sho@dailycal.org.

Correction(s):
A previous version of this article misidentified the name of Berkeley police chief Michael Meehan.

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