Witness statements and recollections of demonstrators have so far identified threats made by a man with a gun against members of a peaceful Martin Luther King Jr. Day protest as they gathered outside Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley’s home on Monday.
On Friday, a new witness shared video with KQED that explicitly reveals audio of the man as he threatens to shoot Black protesters and their allies.
“Get out! Get the fuck out of here!
I will open fire!”
The yet-to-be-identified hooded man yelled the threats while carrying what appears to be a submachine gun.
KQED is not identifying the source who provided the video out of concern for their safety and in accordance with our own policies on anonymous sources.
KQED has reviewed the full video to validate its authenticity, but will not publish the video to preserve the source’s anonymity. The audio presented over a still photo of the man, below, is extracted from the video.
That threat came as peaceful protesters taking part in a car caravan organized by the Anti Police-Terror Project rallied outside O’Malley’s home in Alameda to decry her not charging a second BART police officer in connection with the 2009 death of Oscar Grant III, when the man who also yelled that it was “his neighborhood” came out with the gun.
O’Malley has since condemned the gunman, though she did so two days after the incident — a delay which activists fear will embolden future violent threats.
“Our failure to hold individuals that act in this way accountable for violating the laws, gives them the impression that it was OK. And they will — and others that see this will — follow suit and do it again,” Grant’s uncle, Cephus “Uncle Bobby X” Johnson, said at a Thursday press conference. “That builds the possibility that someone, especially a person of color, could be harmed or not just harmed, but even murdered.”
There was no indication the man fired the weapon, nor were any injuries reported.
Alameda Police investigating the incident are asking anyone who can help identify the man with the gun, or who has additional surveillance footage to call 510-337-8336.