Posted on 05/04/2023 1:40:24 PM PDT by nickcarraway
An Oakland man was seething with anger and frustration over cars racing by his house when he began firing an assault rifle at passing motorists, according to investigators.
One woman who drove by his house, 21-year-old Marie Villa Bedford, was fatally shot Saturday, prosecutors said.
“Marie Villa Bedford was just driving by. Her murder is heartbreaking and absolutely unacceptable,” Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price said.
The District Attorney’s Office filed murder charges Tuesday against the accused killer, Bernard Tracie Jimmerson.
Jimmerson, 39, told Oakland police that he was “frustrated by the noise of cars racing up and down his street in the middle of the night,” Price said.
Jimmerson never should have had a gun in the first place. The felon has a rap sheet, two prior strikes, and is prohibited from possessing firearms, jail inmate records show. He’s also the father of two young children.
Bedford was driving on MacArthur Boulevard just before 2:30 a.m. Saturday. At the same moment, Jimmerson was targeting cars driving past his house on MacArthur Boulevard.
Jimmerson triggered multiple ShotSpotter activations and police officers responded to the scene. Before officers arrived, Bedford was fatally shot while driving past the gunman’s house.
She never made it to a hospital and died at the scene.
“My condolences go out to Ms. Bedford’s family. There are too many guns in this community. And there are too many people who are too quick to use a gun, believing they have a right to use a gun — when they do not,” Price said.
Price said gun violence in Oakland “needs to stop,” and gun-wielding assailants will be held accountable.
Jimmerson was arrested three hours after the killing. Prosecutors charged him with six counts, including: murder; shooting at an occupied motor vehicle; possession of a firearm by a felon; possession of ammunition by a prohibited person; and possession of an assault rifle.
Price said, “(Jimmerson) went outside with his rifle and shot at passing cars — hitting and killing Marie Bedford. Today, because of a decision he made in anger, Mr. Jimmerson is facing a sentence of 25 years to life.”
Jimmerson is currently in custody at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin. He is slated to enter a plea when he is arraigned Wednesday at Wiley Manuel Courthouse in Oakland.
I will say that I do not approve what this man did but I can understand how someone would get sick and tired of the lawlessness in California.
He should be sentenced to life under a freeway overpass to live as a hobo
My inlaws have a place about a block from there, but they rent it out and don’t live there.
Black thuggery needs to stop. Take care of that, and there is no more “gun violence” problem.
We need to find out how he got the gun
Another real-life case of a criminal not giving a rat's arse about laws. The Dem answer is to make more (against innocent, private citizens) rather than enforce existing laws against criminals.
He wasn’t supposed to have a gun, but he did and likely it was illegally obtained.
and the gun traced to... who?
Stand by for more Biden carping over the need for gun confiscation.
gun-wielding assailants will be held accountable
Sure they will. I can see him being sentenced to “the comfy chair”.
THERE ARE TOO MANY MENTALLY UNBALANCED PERSONS IN OAKLAND.
THERE ARE NEVER TOO MANY GUNS IN THE HANDS OF GOOD CITIZENS.
STREET RACING IS RUNNING AMOK ALL OVER THE COUNTRY
IMPOSSIBLE! California has had a ban on A-s-s-ault rifles since crazy Pat Purdy was released from a mental hospital and allowed to buy guns to shot up the Stockton school in 1989!
But then criminals don’t obey laws.
Lol. You can find a gun pretty quickly in Kalif if you have the cash.
I vote not guilty.
Shoot more of those primitives.
“Jimmerson never should have had a gun in the first place. The felon has a rap sheet, two prior strikes, and is prohibited from possessing firearms, jail inmate records show.”
Clearly the problem is too many guns in the hands of the law-abiding. Maybe if California enacted some commonsense gun laws this wouldn’t have happened?
What the man did is plain wrong and evil. You don't shoot at a passing car just because you don't like the noise.
A couple decades ago my car club was having an annual meet at Mt. Shasta in Northern California. While driving through a neighborhood in Shasta City in a group of 30 or so vintage sports cars, a man came out of his house and blocked the lead car while holding a metal baseball bat and threatened us. He didn't like the noise (happened during the day in the afternoon) and was very hostile. We managed to calm him down and promised to stay away from his area. Imagine how different it would have been if he shot one of us (well, a couple dozen of us would have beat him up, a few of our guys were cops and firemen).
Usually we would go on spirited drives on mountain roads or highways, but our lead guy took us through a neighborhood (a mistake for sure).
Quick! Disarm law-abiding suburban wypipl !
I guess I just don’t see why people need loud cars, loud motorcyles, booming stereo systems or anything else that needlessly disturbs other people.
Oh, and I’d advise your motor club to avoid Oakland.
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