A man arrested April 19 by Berkeley police was charged with six felonies Thursday, including a charge of the attempted murder of a girlfriend and her male friend.
Defendant Anthony Burton, 44, was charged on six counts by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office for two attempted murders, corporal injury to a relationship partner, assault with a semiautomatic firearm, shooting at an occupied motor vehicle and possession of a firearm by a felon.
Court documents said Burton’s charges are in connection with an incident that took place March 16 on Tremont Street near Prince Street in South Berkeley, in which a male and female victim sustained serious gunshot wounds while sitting in a parked car.
The female victim suffered a shot to the head, and the male victim was shot about five times in the face and body, according to court documents.
Burton was in a domestic dating relationship with the female victim, who had been transferred to a local hospital by the time the Berkeley Police Department arrived on scene. He was arrested in Sacramento where police found him in a car linked to the case by a Sacramento County sheriff’s deputy.
In 1992, Burton was convicted for assault with a deadly weapon in Santa Clara County and served time in prison, court documents said. A new conviction would be considered a second strike because of his prior conviction. Having a prior violent felony results in a prison term twice as long as a conviction would otherwise provide and would make the defendant ineligible for probation.
Burton is currently being held in Santa Rita Jail without bail. His next hearing is scheduled for April 28 in the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse where he will be allowed to plea following arraignment by the judge.