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Oakland descends into anarchy as it's overtaken by 'perfect storm' of crime and scandal amid 'vacuum of leadership'
Residents of a California city are grappling with out-of-control crime and the loss of confidence in their elected leader.
While scenes of brazen criminal activity in the city have become too common, Democrat Mayor Sheng Thao's fledgling administration is wrought with scandal.
Thao's home was raided by the FBI on June 20, with agents confiscating devices belonging to her and her partner Andre Jones. This comes as the embattled mayor faces a recall effort just two years after taking office.
None of this has put a damper on the frequent lootings of businesses, random shootings or brutal assaults on the elderly.
Jim Ross, a Democratic consultant based in Oakland, called the crime wave and the political turmoil in the city 'the perfect storm times three.'
Oakland's rage is being aimed directly at Mayor Sheng Thao, who is presiding over a crime-ridden city as she also deals with personal scandals involving her romantic partner
Oakland also has a homeless crisis, with scenes of despair like this becoming more and more commonplace in the troubled metro
'For the city, I can't think of a tougher time,' Ross told The Washington Post.
Bob Bishop Jackson, the senior pastor at a gospel church in Oakland, said the city is wracked with lawlessness more than ever before and 'divine intervention' is needed.
Even though the homicide rate has come down, Oakland has more murders than the US average.
'I think we need, from top to bottom, a brand-new slate of leaders for the city,' Jackson said. 'We need a brand-new city council, a brand-new mayor, brand-new, brand-new, brand-new.'
That's while robberies and car thefts have doubled and tripled respectively when compared to pre-pandemic rates.
A smash-and-grab robbery was seen at this gas station convenience store in Oakland. Some 100 people came in and picked the shelves clean, and police never showed up
An elderly woman is brutally-attacked in unprovoked assault in Oakland
This is the crazy moment a bold thief casually rips a whole display of iPhones off the shelves of an Oakland Apple store amid Newsom's newest efforts to crack down on crime in the area
Among the most shocking include a mass shooting at a Juneteenth celebration at Lake Merritt and an elderly woman getting attacked and robbed in broad daylight.
Just last month, 100 robbers tore a gas station apart and picked the shelves clean, their conduct not generating a timely police response.
Days after that incident, the Oakland Police Department admitted it only has 35 officers on patrol at any given moment for a city with over 400,000 people.
Thao's response to all of this has been to say crime is down when compared to 2023's early-year crime wave, though keen observers have noted that her office's report compared the fully compiled year-end 2023 statistics with the ongoing count for 2024.
Retired Judge Brenda Harbin-Forte, who led the recall effort against Thao, told local media that she had 'blood on her hands,' while also criticizing her policies that she says are driving businesses out of Oakland faster than ever before.
Business owners who have decided to stick it out are beginning to reach their breaking point, with one longtime Oakland resident calling the current state of affairs 'demoralizing.'
Ken Houston said he is demoralized after his office was one of 16 small businesses in a single building that were broken into and burglarized last weekend
Pictured: A glass door leading into Houston's building was shattered by thieves
Two masked men ransacked over a dozen small businesses based on the building and stole an estimated $120,000 worth of items
Ken Houston told FOX2 KTVU that his office was one of 16 small businesses in a single building that were broken into last weekend.
'We are already struggling. the city is in dire need of public safety. We've asked over and over for help. Over and over. Before even Denny's left,' Houston said.
Houston was referring to the Denny's down the street from his business's building that was forced to close after 54 years in business due to threats to 'the safety and wellbeing' of staff and customers.
The old Denny's is surrounded by dilapidated RVs and other forms of blight that have become all too common as tent cities for the homeless continue popping up.
Last Saturday's late-night burglary of Houston's building was caught on surveillance video, showing two masked men bursting through a door to look for valuables.
The total loss was somewhere in the range of $120,000, with everything from high-end cameras, speakers, laptops and cash being stolen by the two suspects.
'How can a small business recover from that when we're already hurting. We were shut down from COVID, we weren't making that much money. Now we're back up and this happens.'