Oakland Went Full Chaos Mode Sunday, Sideshows, Fights, Shootings, Youths Ransacked A Gas Station, City Will Cut More Cops To Save Money

Oakland police had a very busy Sunday morning, responding to multiple sideshows, shootings, and a mob of people ransacking a gas station.

This comes as the city is looking to shrink the police force and balance the budget.

"It happens all the time, you hear gunshots," complained Oakland resident Debra Harper, who was not surprised by the Sunday incidents. "This is every weekend. Every single weekend, they do donuts out here, they fight."

Harper said it's become lawless and dangerous. She carries a can of mace just to smoke a cigarette outside of her San Pablo Avenue apartment.

"I carry it for safety, and I've had to use it once," said Harper.

She's learned to sleep through sideshows outside of her unit since it happens so often. The sideshow that happened near her at San Pablo Avenue and 17th Street on Sunday morning didn't even wake her up. And she said she was not surprised that someone set a white BMW sedan on fire as the police were breaking up the sideshow.

"It makes me feel like getting the hell out of Oakland," said Harper. "I'm trying to get out of here, unfortunately. I wish I can live right here comfortably and feel safe, but I don't."

It was one of several sideshows that happened in Oakland on early Sunday morning. At an intersection next to Bishop O'Dowd High School. A driver, spinning donuts, hit a spectator and tossed him into the air. The spectator got up and ran to safety.

"All night long, we were chasing around, trying to deal with it. At one point, a police vehicle was damaged during that. There was also two gunshot victims that were struck by gunfire from the sideshow," said Sgt. Timothy Dolan, vice president of the Oakland Police Officers' Association.

Sgt. Dolan said the two gunshot victims were listed in stable condition.

At 2:30 a.m., a mob of roughly 50 people broke in and ransacked the Coliseum Shell gas station on Hegenberger Road. The gas station owner, Sanjiv Patel, said the clerk who was working alone feared for his life.

"He reached inside the restroom and he locked himself in the restroom and turned off the lights," said Patel.

Patel believed the robbers were probably some of the same people who were doing the sideshows. Police were still investigating that possible connection. Patel said the mob took all the cash, cigarettes, scratcher tickets, and most of the merchandise.

He estimated the loss and damage to be around $50,000.