Investigators were still working Sunday afternoon to identify the man shot and killed hours earlier by an Oakland police officer.
The officer, who had also been shot in the confrontation with the victim, remained hospitalized with a gunshot wound in his lower leg, Oakland Police Department spokeswoman Officer Johnna Watson said.
The shooting happened just after midnight on the 9200 block of Birch Street in East Oakland. The officer was patrolling the neighborhood with a second officer when they saw a group of three people in the 1900 block of 90th Avenue, Watson said.
The officers approached the group and one of the men started running, Watson said. The officers believed that man was carrying a hidden gun, and one officer ran after him.
According to the officer's attorney, Harry Stern, the suspect then drew a gun and began to point it at the officer. The officer drew his own gun and shot the suspect.
Investigators recovered the suspect's gun at the scene, Watson said.
The officer was also shot in the confrontation, but officials said they could not confirm Sunday whether he had been shot by the suspect or if he had accidentally shot himself as he drew his gun.
Watson said she did not know whether the suspect had fired any shots.
Both men were rushed to a nearby hospital. The suspect later died. The officer is expected to recover and should leave the hospital in a day or two, Watson said.
Stern said the shooting was "100 percent" in line with police policy.
"The guy pulled a gun and pointed it at him," Stern said. "That's about training, and the law. This is East Oakland: it's getting rougher and rougher out there."
John Burris, an Oakland-based civil rights attorney, said he had not yet been called into this case. However, he said he hoped police would offer more information on the issue of the suspect's gun and whether he was holding it at the time he was shot.
The Alameda County Coroner's Office had not been able to confirm the victim's identity Sunday afternoon. Investigators will wait until after Monday's scheduled autopsy to try identifying the man by his fingerprints, so as to preserve any evidence that might be on his hands, a sheriff's deputy said.
The injured officer was placed on paid administrative leave as the incident is investigated separately by homicide detectives, internal affairs investigators and the Alameda County District Attorney's Office, as is standard in police shootings, Watson said. She said she did not know how long the officer had been on the force.
During the incident, the other officer had remained on 90th Avenue with the two other people they had stopped, Watson said. She said she did not know whether those people were detained or arrested, or whether the other officer would be placed on leave as well.
Watson said she did not believe any more information on the shooting would be released until Monday.
This was the third time this year that an Oakland police officer had shot someone, and the first of those shootings to be fatal. Five people died last year after being shot by OPD officers, and a public schools police officer fatally wounded one person.
Contact Sean Maher at 935-779-7189 and Joshua Melvin at 650-348-4335. Follow them atTwitter.com/OneSeanMaher andTwitter.com/melvinreport .
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