The victim was standing at the shuttle pickup location in front of the residence hall on Channing Way about 7:45 p.m. when she was approached from behind by the perpetrator, according to a UCPD crime alert released Friday. The suspect shoved her and took her cellphone before running west on Channing Way and south on Dana Street.

The victim was not injured during the encounter.

UCPD and Berkeley Police Department searched the area but were unable to locate the perpetrator.

According to the UCPD crime alert, the suspect is described as:

A black male, approximately 19 years old, 5-foot-11 in height, weighing about 170 pounds and wearing a black jacket and blue jeans.

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

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About 5:30 a.m., the victim was walking in the area when she was grabbed from behind by the perpetrator, who was armed with a handgun, according to a UCPD crime alert released Thursday. The perpetrator demanded the victim’s property, and although she responded that she didn’t have any money, he struck her, after which she fell to the ground. The perpetrator took her purse and ran west on Center Street.

The victim sustained nonlife-threatening injuries during the encounter and declined to receive any medical treatment at the scene.

BPD and UCPD searched the area but were unable to locate the perpetrator.

According to the UCPD crime alert, the suspect is described as:

A black male between 30 and 35 years old, 5-foot-10 in height, weighing about 150 pounds with a thin build, black hair and medium complexion, wearing a black jacket and dark pants.

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

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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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About 7:43 p.m., the victim, who is affiliated with the campus, was walking along the Grinnell Path from Oxford Street while texting on her iPhone, according to a UCPD crime alert released Tuesday. She put the phone in her pocket, and, as she neared the south side of VLSB, she felt someone run into her.

The male perpetrator took the phone from her pocket, knocking her to the ground, and fled the scene. After a male passer-by chased the perpetrator to the south side of Haas Pavilion, he dropped the phone, and the passer-by retrieved it and returned it to the victim.

The victim suffered minor injuries. After searching the scene, UCPD was unable to locate the perpetrator.

According to the UCPD crime alert, the suspect is described as:

A black male between 20 and 25 years old, 6 feet in height with a medium build, either short hair or bald, wearing a dark-colored hooded sweatshirt with white or light-colored markings on the front and light-colored jeans.

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

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About 11:30 p.m., the victim was at the intersection when he was approached by the perpetrators. He was knocked to the ground and physically assaulted, sustaining injuries to the head that possibly were the result of being kicked, according to a UCPD crime alert released Tuesday.

The victim was unable to be questioned due to his injuries and was transported to a local trauma center.

The perpetrators were last seen running north through campus. After a joint search of the area by UCPD and Berkeley Police Department, a UCPD officer detained two individuals who matched the suspects’ descriptions.

After witnesses of the robbery and assault failed to positively identify the suspects, one was released, and another was arrested on an outstanding warrant.

The victim reported items were missing from his wallet after the incident.

According to the UCPD crime alert, the suspects are described as:

Suspect No. 1 — A Hispanic male in his 20s, 5-foot-8 in height, medium build, black hair in a ponytail, wearing a white T-shirt and jeans.

Suspects No. 2 and No. 3 — Two Hispanic males in their 20s.

Suspect No. 4 — A black male in his 20s.

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

The post Male robbed and assaulted by 4 south of campus appeared first on The Daily Californian.

The victim was walking about 1:39 a.m. when she heard a person running up to her. The person, who had his hand in his waistband as if he had a gun, demanded her property, according to the UCPD crime alert released Tuesday. He took the victim’s property and fled on foot.

The victim, whose affiliation with the campus, if any, is not known, was not injured during the incident. UCPD and Berkeley Police Department searched the area but were unable to locate the perpetrator.

According to the UCPD crime alert, the suspect is described as:

A black male approximately 19 years old, 5-foot-7 in height, thin build with a dark complexion, wearing a red/brown/green beanie cap that matched his belt, a black T-shirt, medium-wash baggy jeans and blue/white boxers.

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

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alshepmcr via Creative Commons/Courtesy

I, like many college students, have become all too familiar with this routine. A couple days before a midterm, I become intolerant of my tiny apartment and have this deep need to change study locations, so I begin the mundane task of packing things for an unexciting day trip into the depths of Dwinelle. My backpack begins to fill with the necessities required, such as study materials, a nutritious lunch and chargers for every technological apparatus that I own. However, this common routine of mine was interrupted a few days ago as I was gathering together essential materials to study anatomy.

My recent awareness of crimes in Berkeley caused me to pause as I was considering what to take with me.

As I was deciding what time to return to my apartment, I realized that I would be walking back in the dark. Considering that I would be carrying my laptop instead of tucking it away in my bag, I began to assess the situation. I ultimately figured that carrying my laptop was not worth the risk of attracting unwanted attention. Here’s why.

The strong-arm robbery on Channing Way makes me realize that even the busiest streets have the potential to be threatening later at night. The recent arrest at People’s Park reaffirms the fact that it really is as unsafe as people say it is, and the assault at Grizzly Peak shows that people really do not need a motive to do harm others.

I am unsure of whether deciding to leave my laptop behind prevented a possible robbery, but I am glad that I took the wariness that I was feeling, thought ahead and made a logical decision.  Unsurprisingly, fear is a critical factor in many choices we are faced with. It makes sense that a fear of failing a class leads to dropping a course; a fear of being able to commit results in passing up an internship. Fear allows us to stop and think about the situation at hand. It forces deliberation and can prevent future misgivings.

When taken too far, though, fear is debilitating. While choices made are substantiated by legitimate worries, those choices can be “wrong” if we allow the fear of failure to deter us from taking that class that has the potential to be the highlight of the semester’s course load, and it can prompt us to pass up an internship that has the power to open up many doors in the future.

The next time we find the night slipping by while studying in the library, hopefully the fear of danger will push us to decide the appropriate time and the most secure way to get home. However, when faced with the fear of rejection, the unknown, disappointment and failure, hopefully we recognize those fears and then simply push them aside as we face our own realities. Although some fears are a result of encountering life-threatening situations while others are not, it is important to recognize anxiety as an underlying fear and address the situation at hand appropriately.

Monica Mikhail contemplates the truth of the matter in her Thursday blog. Contact Monica Mikhail at mmikhail@dailycal.org.

The post Recognizing Fear appeared first on The Daily Californian.

At approximately 12:05 a.m., two armed suspects entered the Ashkenaz Music and Dance Center and demanded cash from employees, according to a statement from Berkeley Police Department. The suspects then fired their weapons, striking two of the center’s employees.

One of the employees has been identified as Larry Chin, the center’s executive director, according to ABC 7 news. Chin was shot in the neck, and the second employee, who has not been identified, was shot in the arm.

Within moments of the shootings, BPD officers arrived on scene and attempted to apprehend one of the fleeing suspects. Residents in the area were told to stay in their homes during a search for the suspect. Officers from the department’s Barricaded Subject Hostage Negotiation Team were called in to help due to the violent nature of the crime, according to the police department’s statement.

“Berkeley officers … conducted an extensive yard-to-yard search of the area looking for the suspect,” the statement said. “During the search a suspect was located behind a building in the 1300 block of San Pablo Avenue and taken safely into custody.”

The employees were sent to a local hospital for serious injuries but are expected to recover, according to a post on the center’s Facebook page.

“We at Ashkenaz are deeply touched by the support and concern already expressed by so many in response to last night’s events,” the post said. “We are relieved and grateful to report that our two family members are in stable condition and expected to recover.”

The second suspect is still at large, and BPD urges anyone with information to contact detectives in the robbery and homicide division at 510-981-5742 or 510-981-5900. Anonymous tips can be sent to the Bay Area Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477.

Andy Nguyen is the lead crime reporter. Contact him at anguyen@dailycal.org
and follow him on Twitter @Andy_Truc.

The post Two shot in Berkeley dance and music venue during robbery appeared first on The Daily Californian.

On Saturday night, Berkeley police responded to a robbery in progress after the department received a distress call around 9:58 p.m., according to Officer Jennifer Coats, public information officer for Berkeley Police Department. The incident took place on an Allston Way apartment block, she said.

The two male victims in the apartment unit were able to safely barricade themselves in a bedroom as the suspects allegedly tried to force their way in. While the suspects allegedly demanded the victims’ property, the victims were able to safely reach out for help by calling 911.

Shortly afterward, the suspects attempted to flee from the apartment unit but were detained by Berkeley police. The suspects have since been charged with residential robbery.

Of the five suspects, three Berkeley residents have been identified in the incident as Jeremy Carter, 28, Amos Eaglebear, 22, and Beatrice Lopez, 28. Additionally, two Oakland residents were identified as Joshua Neal, 23, and Bernard Brown, 21.

Coats said that the five suspects were not able to take any property.

Contact Eoghan Hughes at ehughes@dailycal.org.

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Loud reports — 2100 block of Los Angeles Avenue
On Feb. 10 at approximately 1 p.m., residents on the 2100 block of Los Angeles Avenue reported hearing several loud reports. Officers responded to the area and discovered the loud reports were fireworks related to a Chinese New Year celebration.

Robbery — Etna and Derby streets
On Feb. 11, at approximately 7:45 p.m., a robbery occurred near the intersection of Etna and Derby streets. The female victim was walking in the area when she was approached by two unknown suspects. One suspect demanded money from the victim. The victim gave her the money she had. The other suspect then searched the victim for any other property. The suspects then got into a vehicle, which was last seen going south on College Avenue.

The suspects are described as:
Suspect 1 – “Black female, 18 years old, 5’3”, wearing a dark baseball hat and dark clothes.”
Suspect 2 – “Black female, NFD”
Suspect Vehicle: Newer red convertible, possibly Ford Mustang.

Auto burglary — 1100 block of San Pablo Avenue
On Feb. 12, at approximately 2:15 p.m., an auto burglary occurred on the 1100 block of San Pablo Avenue. The unknown suspect broke the window of the victim’s vehicle. The suspect prowled through the vehicle but did not take anything.

Residential burglary attempt — 2800 block of California Street
On Feb. 13, at approximately 9 a.m., an attempted residential burglary occurred on the 2800 block of California Street. The reporting party heard an unknown suspect kick in the door of a residential home. The reporting party called the police and reported seeing someone nearby. The police arrived and determined the door of the home had been kicked in. The resident arrived and reported that nothing was missing from the home.

Robbery — 2200 block of Shattuck Avenue
On Feb. 14, at approximately 7:19 p.m., a robbery occurred on the 2200 block of Shattuck Avenue. The unknown suspects entered the store and removed several cellphones and attempted to exit the store without paying for them. When confronted by an employee, the suspects threatened to physically harm her. The employee, fearing for her safety, moved aside. The suspects then fled the store.

The suspects are described as:
Suspect 1 – “Black male, 20 years old, 5’7”, skinny build wearing a dark baseball hat, navy blue hooded sweatshirt.”
Suspect 2 – “Black male, late teens, 5’5”, skinny build wearing a navy blue windbreaker.”
Suspect 3 – “Black male, late 20s, 6’0”, wearing dark clothing.”

Stolen vehicle — Ashby and San Pablo avenues
On Feb. 15, between 5 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., an auto theft occurred near the intersection of San Pablo and Ashby avenues. The victim reported parking and locking her vehicle in the area. She returned and discovered her vehicle was missing. It is unknown who stole her vehicle. The vehicle taken is a gray 1993 Honda Civic with four doors.

Residential burglary — 1200 block of Hopkins Street
On Feb. 16, at approximately 6 a.m., a residential burglary occurred on the 1200 block of Hopkins Street. The victim reported possibly hearing footsteps early in the morning. He later discovered that several items were taken from his residence. The unknown suspect possibly gained entry through an unlocked door.

View Crime in Berkeley: Feb. 10 to Feb.16 in a larger map.

Andy Nguyen is the lead crime reporter. Contact him at anguyen@dailycal.org
and follow him on Twitter @Andy_Truc.

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