Orinda officers were in Oakland during shooting that killed five, according to call logs; panicked moments after shooting detailed
ORINDA — When shots rang out at a wild Halloween house party at 114 Lucille Way, leaving five dead, the city’s only two patrol officers were in Oakland assisting with the recovery of a stolen car, and didn’t get to the scene until 10 minutes after the shooting, according to call logs obtained by this newspaper.
The logs show two calls to police about a loud party on Lucille Way were made before the shooting and while the officers were in Oakland. They also offer new details of the terrifying moments during and after the shooting. Panicked guests jumped off of balconies, hid in closets, and made dozens of 911 calls, describing at least one suspect with a Mac 10 or Mac 12-style firearm.
The shooting occurred at around 10:50 p.m., during a Halloween party with more than 100 guests. That night, the city had only two officers out on patrol, which is standard for Orinda, police Chief David Cook said at a recent City Council meeting. A Contra Costa Sheriff news release says at the time of the shooting, Orinda officers had been dispatched to Oakland, to help recover a car that had been stolen during a violent home invasion robbery in Lafayette.
According to the call logs, the Orinda officers headed to Oakland at 8:48 p.m. They arrived at the Hiller Highlands neighborhood in the Oakland hills, on the other side of the Caldecott from Orinda, about 10 minutes later. For the next two hours, they remained with the abandoned stolen car, waiting for crime lab technicians to process the vehicle, and a tow truck.
During this time, two calls came in about a “loud party” at 114 Lucille Way. The first was reported a little after 9:19 p.m. The second came in at 10:25 p.m., 24 minutes before the shooting, according to the call logs.
A neighbor on Knickerbocker Lane, in an email sent to city officials at 9:34 p.m., said they previously had “felt silly calling the police to report” parties at the house but did so earlier that evening. The neighbor described partygoers “revving engines and squealing tires up and down the very small street for extended periods of time,” according to the email obtained through a public records request.
At 10:51 p.m., two minutes after 911 calls began pouring in about the shooting, the Orinda patrol vehicle was “preempted and dispatched” back to Orinda.
Callers described victims laying in pools of blood, that at least four to five people had been shot, and that others were injured during their attempts to flee the home, according to the call logs. The Orinda officers indicated they were “on scene” at Lucille Way 10 minutes later, at 11:01 p.m., according to the logs.
The logs contradict statements by police and city officials, that the officers were responding to loud party calls, and already driving to Lucille Way, when the shooting occurred.
Cook did not immediately respond to emails asking to explain the discrepancy, and questioning why more Orinda officers weren’t assigned to patrol on Halloween.
Some have already questioned why the police response took as long as it did.
At a Nov. 5 City Council meeting’s public comment period, Lafayette-based attorney Anthony Ferrigno told city leaders he had been retained by a resident who lived nearby the party, and demanded to know exactly where the officers were. His client, who he did not name, could have been hit by a stray bullet but avoided that fate “only by the grace of God,” Ferrigno said.
“Five lives could have been saved,” Ferrigno told the council.
Aftermath of shooting detailed
The call logs also detail the chaos that followed the shooting. Callers, mostly partygoers, reported people suffering from gunshot wounds all around. Some of the injured were inside the house’s kitchen area, according to the logs.
Several callers reported seeing a man shooting a Mac 10 or Mac 12-style firearm, wearing an orange hooded sweatshirt. Police have not commented on how many shooters there were, nor released any suspect descriptions.
Other call logs indicate some of the surviving victims drove themselves to hospitals, showing up at Alta Bates in Berkeley, as well as Highland Hospital and Kaiser in Oakland. Another person reported to CHP that they observed a car driving west on Highway 24, on or near the shoulder, and that the car appeared suspicious.
The victims have been identified as Tiyon Farley, 22, of Antioch; Omar Taylor, 24, of Pittsburg; Ramon Hill Jr., 23, of San Francisco/Oakland; Javin County, 29, of Sausalito/Richmond; and Oshiana Tompkins, 19, of Vallejo/Hercules. No arrests have been made, police say.