Berkeley police arrest homeless shelter homicide suspect
The homicide victim has been identified as shelter resident Marcel Jones.
Police have arrested the suspect from a shooting that left a man dead at a Berkeley homeless shelter over the weekend, The Scanner has learned.
The homicide victim has been identified as shelter resident Marcel Jones. No further information about him was immediately available.
Berkeley police arrested the suspect Monday morning after spotting his car, a light-colored Lexus sedan, on Fourth Street near Camelia Street at about 10 a.m.
The car was parked just two blocks south of the northwest Berkeley homeless shelter where Sunday's fatal shooting occurred.
Left: Police put the suspect into a BPD cruiser before taking him to the station. Right: The suspect's vehicle. Ariel Nava Photo
On Monday morning, a BPD lieutenant who saw the car parked said over the radio that someone appeared to be sleeping in the driver's seat.
He asked officers to bring spike strips to the block in case the driver tried to flee.
Police responded to the area and had the suspect in custody by 10:40 a.m., according to dispatch traffic reviewed by The Scanner.
The Berkeley Police Department has thus far declined to provide an official statement on the arrest or share the name of the suspect but The Scanner confirmed the arrest with multiple sources.
Emilie Raguso
On Sunday, The Scanner was the first news outlet to report on the homicide at Harrison House, at 711 Harrison St. (at Fourth Street).
Police said a disturbance or argument preceded the shooting, which took place shortly before 5:30 p.m. and reportedly involved two shelter residents.
It was Berkeley's fourth homicide of the year and the second shooting this year at Harrison House.
The victim in the earlier, unrelated shooting was a former shelter staffer who survived.
The Harrison House shelter program, now dubbed Ursula Sherman Village, is overseen by Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS).
BOSS CEO Donald Frazier said the homicide was tragic but declined to comment further this week.
According to the BOSS website, Ursula Sherman Village "was the first shelter activated for homeless disabled adults in California."
It has now "grown its services and capacity substantially with the addition of shelter beds for families, a computer lab, the Children’s Learning Center, playground, and gardens," according to the BOSS website. "Residents stay up to 6 months (with extensions as needed while people are seeking permanent housing) and have access to housing navigation, benefits eligibility, employment, health, wellness, and peer support services."
The program was named in honor of Ursula Sherman, a founding member of BOSS who was also a "lifelong human and civil rights activist," according to the organization's website.
Shelter residents, who were stuck outside for hours Sunday evening as the investigation unfolded, declined to comment about the shooting.
See additional photographs and videos from the scene in Sunday's story.
Emilie Raguso
Berkeley has now had 21 shootings this year, equalling last year's tally at this time.
In 2023, those shootings had wounded five people but resulted in no deaths.
This year's shootings have left three people dead and wounded six.
The Scanner will continue to follow the story.
