Oakland man charged in city’s second homicide of 2026

OAKLAND — A city resident has been arrested and charged with murder for allegedly shooting a man police say he didn’t know.

Brian Spikes-Hopkins, 42, was charged with murder and being a five-time felon in possession of a gun and ammunition. Authorities allege he shot and killed 47-year-old Berkeley resident Edward William less than 12 hours into the New Year.

William, the second Oakland homicide victim of 2026, was shot on the 2700 block of East 20th Street at 11:37 a.m. on Jan. 1, police said. He survived for three hours and died at a hospital. But in the three hours where he was holding on, 30-year-old Tariq Roddy Figueroa was shot and killed outside a barbershop in another part of Oakland and became the city’s first homicide victim of 2026.

Authorities say Spikes-Hopkins and William didn’t know each other and had a spur-of-the-moment confrontation just before the shooting. Police said in court records that Spikes-Hopkins was identified from “surveillance footage, electronic records, database queries and witness statements.”

Spikes-Hopkins was arrested on Jan. 6 and has been at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin ever since, with no bail. He was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday morning to enter a plea, records show.