Features

Police Blotter

Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday September 05, 2006

The Berkeley Police Department sent out an urgent request to the community on Friday afternoon to help identify suspects who may be responsible for a number of robberies in Berkeley and possibly other Bay Area cities. 

On Aug. 23, a lone gunman entered the USE Credit Union at around 11 a.m. and, after ordering all persons to the ground, proceeded to rob the business. The suspect is a black male adult in his 20s, 5’9”, 160 pounds with pulled-back braided hair. The suspect could also be associated with a similar credit union robbery in the South Bay, according to Berkeley police spokesperson Officer Ed Galvan. 

Investigators are also looking for a suspect in a Berkeley Wells Fargo Bank robbery at 2 p.m. Aug. 23. The suspect is a black male in his 20s, 5’ 8”, 160 pounds, wearing a black T-shirt and multi-colored baseball cap. He is also believed to be responsible for at least one other Bay Area bank robbery. 

In the third case, victims were beaten up even after they complied with their attackers. On Aug. 25, a group of young males, possibly black or Latino, aged 18 to 22, robbed and beat their victims in the 1200 block of Francisco Street. The suspects have been described as over six feet tall. Berkeley police have said that this group could be responsible for four separate pedestrian robberies in the Northwest Berkeley area. 

Anyone with information about the suspects should contact the Berkeley Police Department Robbery Unit at 981-5742.