The Briefing Room
State Chapters => California => Topic started by: PeteS in CA on September 16, 2020, 11:06:59 pm
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Murder charges filed after killing of UC Berkeley student
https://www.berkeleyside.com/2020/08/24/murder-charges-filed-after-killing-of-uc-berkeley-student (https://www.berkeleyside.com/2020/08/24/murder-charges-filed-after-killing-of-uc-berkeley-student)
The Alameda County district attorney’s office filed felony charges Monday against 60-year-old Berkeley resident Tony Walker in the June killing of 19-year-old Cal student Seth Smith.
Smith had been walking on Dwight Way in southwest Berkeley when someone approached him from behind and shot him at close range in the back of the head without warning or provocation, authorities have said.
On Monday, the DA’s office charged Walker with murder and several other felony firearms violations, according to court records reviewed by Berkeleyside. Walker, a felon on probation who lived within a few hundred feet of where the homicide happened, at Dwight Way and Valley Street, was prohibited from having guns or ammunition because of his criminal record.
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“My son never felt like there was anywhere in Berkeley that was unsafe to walk,†his mother, Michelle Rode-Smith, told Berkeleyside on Monday.
I realize that mass and single shootings are not an every-day occurrence in Berserkely, but Berkeley is one of several SF Bay Area communities in which I will not do running events.
And once again, this was a murder with a gun committed by a guy who legally could not own a gun or ammunition. CA's onerous gun laws do not disarm criminals, "only" the law-abiding.
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Did the murderer know the victim or could this be a random hate crime?