After chase through Oakland’s Head Royce School, officials arrest suspect; another still on the loose
After a chase through Oakland’s Head-Royce School, U.S. Marshals arrested one person and are still looking for another in a search that began on Thursday afternoon in Oakland’s Dimond District.
Officials said the people being sought were robbery suspects. Tekay Dorsey, a supervisory deputy with the U.S. Marshals Service, said he could not share more information, as the investigation is ongoing.
While fleeing from the authorities, a man entered the elite Head-Royce School at 3:45 p.m. The school went into lockdown immediately, and law enforcement conducted a full search of the campus and arrested the suspect around 5:00 p.m., according to a Head-Royce spokesperson. The suspect was not affiliated with the school, and all community members are safe, they added.
Officials have not given details about where the second suspect fled. Their search is centered around Lincoln Avenue and Damuth Street.
Officers from the San Francisco Police Department Tenderloin Unit, the Fremont Police, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department, and the Oakland Police were also aiding in the investigation. As of 5:45 p.m., they had established a perimeter around the area, near Sequoia Elementary School and Head-Royce School. Two helicopters began circling the area around 4:30 p.m. and were still there as of 7:30 p.m.
Earlier in the evening, a car crashed on Lincoln Avenue near Tiffin Road and was abandoned by its driver and passenger, officials said. They did not confirm whether the car was being driven by the two suspects, but said the car was related to the investigation.
The U.S. Marshals Service, which is leading the investigation, is part of the Department of Justice and is responsible for enforcing federal laws. Among its many roles, the Marshals are responsible for locating and apprehending wanted criminals. Other local agencies typically share information about fugitives with the Marshals, who coordinate the search.
In June, the U.S. Marshals Service indicated it would increase its presence in Oakland this summer to enforce felony warrants as part of the Oakland Police Department’s Summer Safety Plan. The warrants would be state and local ones related to burglary, assault, possession of firearms, failure to appear, probation violations and other crimes, according to CBS News San Francisco. The Marshals told the news channel that their activity would not be related to immigration enforcement.
The Marshals on the ground Thursday were part of the Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force, which is the same task force helping with the Summer Safety Plan, Dorsey said. But he said that Thursday’s arrest was not related to that initiative.