Berkeley homeless camp attack: Man sentenced to anger classes

A man who attacked a couple at a Berkeley homeless camp and threatened to kill them this month has been put on probation and ordered to attend anger management classes, court papers show.

Earlier this month, Berkeley police responded to a homeless encampment in the 1100 block of Eighth Street in northwest Berkeley to investigate an argument.

That morning, police say Alejandro Padilla, 35, accused a woman of stealing his property from his tent on Eighth north of Harrison Street.

"In a fit of rage," police wrote, Padilla pulled out a gun and pressed the muzzle against the woman's head, "threatening to kill her."

A man tried to intervene in the attack but Padilla threatened him, too, "warning him to stay out of it," police wrote.

The man and woman were able to get away and hid nearby in separate tents, police wrote.

But, according to BPD, Padilla didn't let it go.

Alejandro Padilla. BPD

He "methodically searched the area" until he found the woman hiding a few hours later, then began punching her and striking her in the face, police wrote.

The man who had tried to help earlier heard the woman screaming and ran to her aid.

Padilla then punched the man and brandished a knife, threatening to stab him, police wrote.

Padilla left a short time later "after warning them that he would kill them if he saw them at the encampment again," police wrote.

In fear for their safety, the pair fled.

A day or so later, Padilla spotted the man and woman on Harrison near Eighth, and again threatened to kill them while ordering them to leave, police wrote.

The couple called police for help.

Officers responded and arrested Padilla. During the arrest, they found nearly 2 grams of methamphetamine in Padilla's possession, according to court papers.

Police said they also found two replica pistols and a BB gun in Padilla's tent during a search, according to court papers.

The Alameda County DA's office charged Padilla with seven misdemeanors, including criminal threats, battery, brandishing a replica gun, exhibiting a deadly weapon and possession of methamphetamine, according to court papers.

He subsequently agreed to a plea deal, pleading no contest to one count of criminal threats while the rest of the case was dropped in exchange for a year of unsupervised probation.

The negotiated settlement also requires Padilla to complete 12 anger management sessions as well as 40 hours of community service, according to court papers.

He was also ordered not to own firearms or other dangerous weapons for 10 years and to stay away from both victims.

Padilla, who is no longer in custody, was ordered to return to court in October to show that he had complied with the terms of the agreement.