Man charged with Berkeley homeless shelter murder
Mark Dowling and Marcel Jones were roommates at Harrison House. Dowling had the top bunk and Jones had the bottom. They did not get along.
A man with a history of conflicts at the Berkeley homeless shelter where he lived has now been charged with killing his bunkmate, according to police and court papers.
Police say Mark Dowling, 62, shot 37-year-old Marcel Jones on Sunday evening, killing him in the room they shared at Harrison House, at 711 Harrison St. in northwest Berkeley.
Dowling had the top bunk and Jones had the bottom, police wrote. The men did not get along, according to court papers.
Scroll down for an update to the story.
Surveillance footage and numerous witnesses helped police link Dowling to the case.
According to court papers, Dowling and Jones had argued and fought physically in the hours before the shooting.
Police said the men initially bickered about a Tupac song, or something similar, because Jones "was known to play loud music."
Jones reportedly "won the fight" and beat Dowling up, police wrote.
Around 4 p.m., a manager at Harrison House asked the men to "keep their distance," Berkeley police wrote.
When Jones returned to their room, Dowling had thrown Jones' property on the floor, sparking another argument, according to BPD.
Dowling reportedly spat on Jones' bed as well.
"We could go for round two if you want to," Jones reportedly told Dowling, BPD wrote.
Dowling responded by whispering in Jones' ear, police said, to which Jones replied, "Come on with it then," opening his arms wide.
That's when Dowling took out a gun and shot Jones repeatedly, leaving him with gunshots to the chest, back and abdomen, police wrote.
Witnesses found Jones bleeding on the floor after the shooting. BPD's attempts to revive him were unsuccessful.
The Berkeley Fire Department pronounced Jones dead at 5:38 p.m. The Scanner was the first to report on the homicide.
Emilie Raguso
Multiple witnesses who saw or heard the shooting described it to BPD, according to court papers. Some witnesses said they heard nine or 10 gunshots that day.
One man said Dowling escaped capture by jumping over him and crawling out the window of their room.
Police found what they believed to be one of Dowling's tennis shoes outside the window, according to court papers.
Nearby surveillance footage caught Dowling grabbing an object from his trunk and hiding it in his waistband before going back into the shelter before the shooting, police wrote.
The footage also captured the sound of gunfire at 5:22 p.m., according to BPD.
Emilie Raguso
The next morning, investigators tracked Dowling down. They arrested him on Fourth Street. (The Scanner was the first to report that news.)
During the arrest, police seized Dowling's phone, clothing and firearms as well as other items, according to court papers.
Police also wrote that Dowling had five firearms registered to him and has multiple arrests on file, including an arrest from May in which he reportedly brandished a knife at a woman.
He has no prior cases charged in Alameda County, according to court records.
Police wrote that Dowling moved into Harrison House several months earlier. His car is registered to him at an address in Stockton.
Jones, meanwhile, had been living at Harrison House for six or seven months, according to police.
Dowling had struggled to get along at the shelter, repeatedly coming into conflict with multiple people, BPD wrote.
One witness told BPD that Dowling had previously called him the N-word and threatened to shoot him, saying, "I'm going to put holes in you.'"
In another incident, according to police, "Dowling was making derogatory comments about black women and the other man had enough of it."
BPD continued: "Dowling threatened to shoot him and 'drill a hole in him.'"
In a statement Tuesday, Berkeley police said the Alameda County district attorney's office had charged Dowling with murder.
The case had not shown up in court records as of publication time.
According to jail records, Dowling is being held without bail at Santa Rita Jail and is scheduled for arraignment Wednesday.
Sunday's shooting was Berkeley's fourth homicide of the year.
Update, Aug. 28: The murder case against Mark Dowling includes a hate crime allegation charge, according to court papers. Dowling, who is white, reportedly had numerous conflicts with people related to race in the months before the murder.
The victim in the case was Black.
Dowling had a 31-year medical career specializing in radiology, according to profiles online.
