Gunfire amid Berkeley robbery; man arrested with ghost gun
Jahquinn Pounders was arrested on suspicion of robbery, gunfire and related crimes, as well as being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Berkeley police arrested a San Francisco man early Sunday morning after he fired a gun during a robbery near the Oakland border, authorities report.
The robbery took place at California and 62nd streets at about 1:30 a.m. Sunday.
Berkeley police said a man in his 30s from Berkeley and a woman in her 40s from Walnut Creek were in the area when the robber approached them and pointed a gun at them.
He first went through the man's pockets, police said, and threatened to shoot him.
The men then struggled over the weapon, which the robber fired into the air, police said.
Dispatchers heard the gunfire when someone called in to report what was happening, police said.
The suspect fled on foot but arriving officers chased after him and arrested him in possession of the ghost gun, police said.
The man was identified as 28-year-old Jahquinn Pounders of San Francisco.
He was arrested on suspicion of robbery, criminal threats, firing the gun and related crimes, as well as being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to jail records.
Read more about robberies in Berkeley.
As of Sunday, he remained in custody with a bail of $465,000.
Pounders is scheduled for arraignment Wednesday at the Wiley Manuel Courthouse in Oakland.
@ScanBerkeley, an unaffiliated local Twitter feed, posted updates about the robbery as it happened.
Berkeley police said they have been seeing an uptick in armed robberies in recent days, along with an increase in robberies overall.
Robberies in Berkeley are up about 15% compared to last year, with more than 260 so far in 2023, according to the latest BPD data.
As of Oct. 1, Berkeley has had 25 shootings in 2023 with seven people wounded.
