OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) — In the wake of a mass shooting targeting an Oakland music video crew earlier this week, police are calling attention to a 2022 mass shooting that targeted students and still remains unsolved.
No arrests have been made in either of Oakland’s two mass shootings.
On Wednesday, the Oakland Police Department released surveillance video hoping to re-draw attention to a 2022 case and motivate witnesses to speak out. The surveillance video shows students running for their lives as two gunmen shot six people inside Rudsdale Newcomer High School on Sept. 28, 2022.
Investigators believe the shooters entered the school looking for one of its students before firing off 30 rounds. Students, a counselor, a security guard, and a carpenter were shot.
One of the six victims, Kazuhiro David Sakurai, died two months later from “complications of gunshot wound,” according to the Alameda County Sheriff’s Coroner.
Rudsdale was one of several schools clustered on the King Estates campus where Sakurai worked as a carpenter and groundskeeper. “He passed away … after fighting to recover from injuries he sustained during the King Estates tragedy,” the Oakland Unified School District wrote. “He will be profoundly missed. Our community mourns the loss of an OUSD hero.”
The school shooting was motivated by a “group and gang conflict. The (victims) who were shot were not the (intended) targets,” Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong said in September. “The individuals responsible for this are still out in our community, armed, and dangerous.”
Detectives are still trying to identify and find the killers who slipped away from the school before it was swarmed by officers. In addition to the two shooters, investigators suspect a getaway driver was utilized for the brazen school invasion.
Some of Rudsdale Newcomer High School’s students are immigrants who fled their home countries to escape violence. “They are all between 16-21 years old and are navigating systems in the U.S. for the first time as adolescents,” the school district’s website states.
More violence in Oakland broke out on Monday night when 11 victims were shot in the middle of recording a music video on MacArthur Boulevard, according to investigators.
Between 40-50 people taking part in filming the music video near a Valero gas station before a shootout between multiple gunmen ensued, Acting Oakland Police Chief Darren Allison said.
“We suspect that there might be a gang connection,” added OPD Captain Tony Jones.
There were no victims at the scene when police arrived, but officers found shell casings left behind from rifles and handguns. Officers later found the 11 victims at local hospitals who ranged in ages from 15 to 63. One 18-year-old man, identified as Mario Navarro, died from gunshot wounds, according to police.
The Oakland Police Department wrote, “We’re asking anyone that may have witnessed this incident, that may have information, or (has) video pertaining to this shooting to please contact our department.” Witnesses are urged to call OPD at 510-238-3821.