Berkeley man recounts how he stopped alleged kidnapping
"I could see the fear in his eyes," the witness said, of the 10-month-old baby. "I was trying to calm him down."
A local man was riding his bike in Berkeley's Aquatic Park on a recent Tuesday when the sound of screaming caught his attention.
He turned to the left and saw two women wrestling on the ground beside a large red building and two benches: A younger white woman was pinning down a much older Asian woman.
It was about 10:45 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 12.
Initially, the man interpreted the noise and commotion as stemming from some kind of animal attack.
"I never thought it was a lady who was trying to steal a baby," he said.
Ricardo, who asked to be identified by his first name only, said he pushed the younger woman away so the older woman could stand up.
She was trembling, arms and legs shaking.
Grabbing his arm tightly she asked: "Can you help me?"
"Protect me," she said.
Nearby, the 10-month-old baby was on his back on the ground near his stroller.
Emilie Raguso
As Ricardo tried to reassure and calm the 66-year-old grandmother and keep the women apart, the younger one walked forward saying, "She's trying to kill the baby."
It was a confusing scene. Both Ricardo and another witness were struggling to understand what had happened, he said.
"It looked like she was out for that kid. And she was gonna take off," he said.
He told the older woman to call 911 so they could figure it out.
Meanwhile, the younger woman kept trying to get closer to the baby, who was terrified and crying, bleeding from his lip, he said.
"I could see the fear in his eyes," said Ricardo. "I was trying to calm him down."
He said the younger woman looked relatively normal and that he did not recognize her from Berkeley streets, where he himself had lived over the years at times, despite growing up in Berkeley and being housed now.
Leana McShane. BPD
Officers arrived and, ultimately, arrested 49-year-old Leana McShane.
Police described her as unsheltered said she was a "complete stranger" to the woman who was attacked.
According to BPD, McShane told officers she had been "trying to save a 'robot baby.'"
Both victims sustained visible injuries, but did not require serious medical treatment, authorities said.
The Alameda County DA's office ultimately charged McShane with attempted kidnapping, child abuse and elder abuse, according to court papers.
As of this week, she remains in custody with a bail of $200,000.
To date, she has refused to come to court to enter a plea, according to booking records.
Her next hearing is set for Thursday.
McShane's online posts indicate she has been a musician, an artist and a hairstylist over the years, including at a Berkeley salon on College Avenue.
While older posts reflect a more stable, creative life, others reference serious struggles, as well as growing frustration and paranoia.
"I’ve been on social media for years," she wrote in 2020. "Promoting my music and art and even a vegan food blog and never made a penny doing any of that. I’ve had side hustles and more side hustles and still end up getting my support taken, my kids taken, my dignity and respect taken."
"Ive been slut shamed, arrested without cause, drugged, robbed, my car stolen, my bike stolen, I’ve been under surveillance, stalked, hacked, the list goes on," she wrote, tagging Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris, among others.
Many of the posts questioned prevailing narratives and described her growing troubles.
In one post, she wrote that her own children had been removed from her custody in 2018.
"Missing my children beyond measure," she wrote later. "How sad that in this day and age so many of our babies are being taken from us because society says we are unfit."
Over the years, she created multiple social media accounts, writing that some of her pages had been shut down as she dealt with one betrayal after another.
In 2021, she was still struggling with serious losses.
"They took my babies, told me I am not a mother, forced me into a prison, torture, drugs, spat out confused, jobless, accounts drained, phone shut down, my home no longer mine, strangers living in the next room tormenting and bullying me like a high school nightmare, then again online, cyber attacks, identity theft, confusion, betrayal, lies," she wrote. "The next few years a blur, over and over again, everything repeats, hospitals, pills, every time it worsens."
