Berkeley man arrested after gunfire during parking dispute

A Berkeley man police say shot at his neighbor for taking his street parking spot is in custody this week facing multiple felonies, according to court records.

The non-injury shooting took place April 11 in the 900 block of Channing Way just feet from a mother pushing a baby stroller at about 1 p.m., police said.

Deandre Davis, a 52-year-old unemployed felon who lives with his mother on the block, is "known to be confrontational," a witness told police.

That's why she decided to record a dispute between Davis and a neighbor on April 11, Berkeley police wrote in court papers.

Read more about shootings in Berkeley.

Davis initially got upset and repeatedly punched the neighbor in the face when he found him using a street parking spot that he wanted, BPD wrote.

Then Davis retrieved a heavy object wrapped in a T-shirt that police said had the shape of a handgun, according to BPD.

Davis then got into his white Chevrolet Camaro and drove at the male neighbor, firing a single shot at him from the driver's seat, police wrote.

"He dove in the bushes to avoid being shot," according to BPD.

There were multiple people in the area of the shooting as well as an apartment complex with residents inside, police wrote.

"This shooting occurred in the early afternoon, in broad daylight, at a time when many residents, adults and children, walk, bike, and jog through the area," Berkeley police wrote.

The shooter fled from Channing Way before police arrived. Investigators continued to work the case, putting a tracker on Davis' car in an effort to find him and determining that cellphone records put him in the area at the time of the shooting, BPD wrote.

Multiple witnesses also identified Davis as the shooter, according to police.

Deandre Davis. BPD

Officers arrested Davis in Oakland on Monday evening on suspicion of the Channing Way shooting as well as separate allegations of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.

He is being held with a combined bail of $290,000 and is scheduled for arraignment Thursday, according to jail records.

According to police, Davis has an "extensive criminal history" including five felony convictions.

A conviction for a shooting on Valentine's Day in 2014 sent him to state prison on a nine-year sentence, according to court records.

Berkeley shootings are up this year compared to last year, with 14 shootings so far in 2024 leaving six people wounded.

Last year, there had been seven shootings as of this time. One man had been hurt.

Update, April 24: The Alameda County DA's office has charged Deandre Davis with six felonies including shooting from a vehicle, assault with a firearm, shooting at an inhabited dwelling and possession of a firearm by a felon, according to court records. He remains in custody.