OAKLAND (CBS SF) — As tensions began to soar on the streets of Oakland Friday night, a gunman opened fired on two Federal Protective Service officers posted at the city’s federal building, killing one of them and sending the other to the hospital with critical injuries.
In a statement to KPIX 5, the FBI said the incident occurred at around 9:45 p.m.
“A vehicle approached the building,” the statement read. “An individual inside the vehicle began firing shots at contracted security officers for the Federal Protection Service of the Department of Homeland Security. One officer was killed and another injured.”
The Oakland police tweeted Friday night that they did not believe the shooting was related to the violence that would later break out on the nearby streets during a demonstration sparked by the police custody death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
In an email to KPIX 5 early Saturday, Oakland police spokeswoman Johnna Watson could not confirmed the tweet – “Still under investigation, unknown if related.
At a news conference in Washington, DHS Acting Secretary Chad Wolf called the slaying of the officer an assassination.
“As of late we have witnessed an outright assault on our law enforcement community,” Wolf said. “Last night in Oakland, California, an assassin cowardly shot two Federal Protective Service contractors as they stood watch over a protest. One officer was killed, the other is in critical condition…Let me express my deepest condolences to the family members of these two FPS contractors.”
Ken Cuccinelli, acting deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, called acts like the Oakland shooting an “act of domestic terrorism.” – READ MORE
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