Homicide at Emeryville Amtrak Station

[jccollins]

From KTVU.com

Man Shot And Killed At Emeryville Amtrak Station

POSTED: 6:30 pm PDT April 21, 2005

EMERYVILLE, Calif. -- The Emeryville Amtrak station is closed this evening as the result of a deadly shooting that occurred around 4:45 p.m. inside the station, according to an Emeryville police dispatcher.

The shooting left one man dead, the dispatcher reported.

One suspect has been taken into custody, the dispatcher reported.

The station may be reopened in three to four hours, the dispatcher said.

Though the station was evacuated and all trains are passing the station, an Amtrak spokeswoman said there are no serious delays to Amtrak evening service.

Copyright 2005 by Bay City News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

[Anthony]

Wow. :unsure:

 

[Rick]

Terrible news...I was just there approx. one month ago after an outstanding ride on the California Zephyr from Chicago. I have tried to find details about this incident on the internet, but to no avail.....

 

[jccollins]

Here's a few more details from the Oakland Tribune, a local newspaper.

Man shot, killed at Emeryville train station

Suspect in custody following slaying inside Amtrak stop

By Susan McDonough, STAFF WRITER

EMERYVILLE — A man was shot and killed inside the Emeryville Amtrak station late Thursday afternoon, rattling passengers and employees who later sat stunned outside the station in this normally quiet neighborhood.

Details about the shooting were limited Thursday. Police could not provide much information about the victim, described only as an African-American man, possibly in his 40s. The suspect, another man in his 40s, was in custody.

Police received reports at about 4:45 p.m. of several shots fired in the station at 59th and Landergan streets, Sgt. Frank Sierras said.

Police took custody of the suspect at the station, but Sierras could not say if he was apprehended or had surrendered.

The victim died at the scene, police said.

Neither police nor Amtrak spokeswoman Tracy Connell could confirm if either the victim or shooter was an Amtak passenger. Connell said only that no Amtrak employees or trains were involved, and no one else was injured.

The station was in lockdown for several hours after the shooting. Incoming trains and passengers were redirected to Amtrak's Jack London Square and Berkeley stations.

Later, at about 7:15 p.m., trains began allowing passengers to exit on the Emeryville platform north of the terminal.

Passenger Terry Simon was inside the Emeryville station waiting to take a train home to Sacramento when she heard shots, she said. She was digging in her purse when it happened.

"I heard boom, boom. I looked up and people were running," Simon said. "We were running trying to get out of there."

Thursday's homicide was the first this year in Emeryville. Two men were killed in the city last year in two separate shootings. Before that, Emeryville had not had a homicide since 2001.

 

[Rick]

JC...Thanks for providing the information......a sad story indeed. I hate it for the victim and I hate it for the innocent bystanders who, undoubtedly, had their wits scared right out of them...it's hard to imagine. For my family and I, the Emeryville station was the gateway to San Francisco and a wonderful vacation, starting with the California Zephyr, one that we will remember for the rest of our lives...as I am sure it has been for countless other families and and others over the years. Tragic.......

 

[tp49]

Here's a little more from today's San Francisco Chronicle.

A man has confessed to fatally shooting a fellow passenger at the Amtrak train station in Emeryville, police said Friday.
Ahkin Mills, 31, of Merced shot and killed a man about 4:45 p.m. Thursday at the station near Powell Street, Emeryville police spokeswoman Jeannie Wong said

The rest can be seen here. Don't worry there's no fee or registration needed to view it.

 

[jccollins]

Too strange. It sounds like the guy stuck around waiting for his train back to Merced even after he shot someone?

For those of you not from the area, don't let the article stating Emeryville's population as 8,000 fool you. Emeryville (Amtrak's gateway to San Francisco) is a "small city" within the larger crime-ridden area of Oakland/Richmond, although the Emeryville Station and surrounding neighborhood is quite upscale and usually very safe despite the neighborhoods a few miles away.

Thanks for the latest article, tp49.

 

[jccollins]

Here's the beginning of the most comprehensive article I have seen so far. This is definitely a sad story for all involved parties.

Police, family question Amtrak station shooting
By Susan McDonough, STAFF WRITER

EMERYVILLE — A deadly shooting in an Amtrak station Thursday was likely a random encounter between two strangers — one waiting on a train and the other carrying a gun and potentially hearing voices, authorities said.

Jason Jackson Andrade, 27, was just minutes from boarding an Amtrak train home to Sacramento when Ahkin Mills, a 32-year-old Merced man, began shooting at him for unknown reasons, according to authorities.

Witnesses said Andrade scrambled to crawl under a row of seats inside the terminal to protect himself from his killer. Meanwhile, other sources said, Mills reloaded his revolver and kept shooting.

The rest of the article can be read here.