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 understand. We have a neighbor down the block that has loud cars and a motorcycle, always has friends over - loud as the motorcycles come and go. We don’t mind, as long as they don’t make noise at night. I haven’t participated in the car club for the last ten years, getting old. There are quite a few young guys in our town with hot rods, not going to disappear anytime soon unless ICE cars are banned.
Can you imagine raising a little girl, pouring your heart and soul into providing for her, protecting her, teaching her about life, and preparing her for the world, to only have her gunned down in cold blood by a mentally unstable criminal when her life as an adult had just begun?
Yes, DiFi wants bullets traceable and micro stamped. Who owned the gun? Is ATF prosecuting them?
Double standards and equity BS. All of it, for the real people killing each other.
You are right
And to your point More gun laws would not have stopped him
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