Shootings

Gunfire in Berkeley during conflict over auto theft attempt

The car thieves shot at a resident who struck their getaway car with a baseball bat as they fled the scene, police said.

People with a gun opened fire on a Berkeley resident who interrupted them during a car theft attempt over the weekend, authorities report.

Berkeley police said the shooting took place around 3 a.m. Sunday at Walnut Street near Delaware Street when the resident saw two people trying to steal his car.

The pair jumped into a black sedan and began to leave when they realized they had been spotted, Berkeley police said.

Then the resident used a baseball bat to hit the back of the getaway car, BPD said.

The driver stopped and someone got out of the car and fired five rounds at the resident, police said.

The man's car was hit multiple times but the resident escaped injury, Berkeley police said.

Read more about shootings in Berkeley.

After the shooting, a BPD officer spotted a black car on Telegraph Avenue speeding southbound toward Oakland, according to unconfirmed scanner traffic.

Officers pursued the car onto the freeway and into Oakland, as it reached approximately 100 mph at times and blew through red lights, but ultimately lost sight of it.

The investigation is ongoing, BPD said.

There have now been almost a dozen shootings in Berkeley this year, leaving four men and a teenage boy wounded.

There had been five shootings in Berkeley as of this time last year with one man wounded.