Several people were wounded in a shooting Wednesday night at a Juneteenth celebration near Lake Merritt in Oakland, police said.
A crowd of about 5,000 people had gathered around the lake for Juneteenth events when someone opened fire in the 400 block of Grand Avenue at about 8:45 p.m., wounding several people, police said.
The events — not sanctioned by the city, according to police — were peaceful until a sideshow, or illegal street takeover, developed near the intersection of Grand and Bellevue avenues and a fight broke out, police said.
“As the crowd headed towards the altercation, multiple shots were fired,” Oakland police said in a news release.
“We were all celebrating, it began to be a sideshow, a couple of fights going on. … Next thing we know, we thought that we heard fireworks,” Tamia Robinson told ABC7 KGO from the scene Wednesday night. “So what we did was we ran. … Next thing you hear ‘boom-boom-boom-boom-boom’ from the other side of the lake. … We’re walking and my sister springs across the street and sees one of her friends laying out.”
An unknown number of people were wounded, authorities said.
Officers at the scene treated some gunshot victims while some victims rushed themselves or others to hospitals. Some officers received minor injuries in confrontations with the crowd as they tried to move people to safety after the shooting, police said.
One person was arrested on suspicion of assault on an officer but no one has been arrested in connection with the shooting, police said.
No fatalities were reported and police said it was not clear if there was more than one shooter.