INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Oakland Shooting: Just Days After Orlando, Mourning Begins Again

By Christina St Jean
Published on: 00:47 PST, Jun 16, 2016

Three people were injured and one person died in a shooting in Oakland, California, June 14. Regginna Jefferies (who is also reported by some outlets as Reggina Jefferies), just 17, was attending a vigil for two drowning victims in Salinas, California, when two unnamed gunmen opened fire, according to ABC News. It was not known whether the Oakland shooting was in connection with the vigil, but the gunmen opened fire near to where the vigil was held.

While she arrived in the hospital fighting for her life, Jefferies ultimately succumbed to her injuries. Three others, ranging in age from mid-teens to early-20s, were also injured in the shooting.

Hollywood Life said there was an intense outcry on social media regarding the Oakland shooting, with many still referencing the Orlando massacre that claimed 49 lives and injured 53.

A witness to the Oakland shooting told ABC7 that in the moments before the shooting, Jefferies and her friends were dancing and was one of dozens of teenagers participating in a vigil for Jamari Wilson and Josiah Pratt Rose, both 15 when they died after drowning in a Stanislaus County reservoir.

“For about five minutes they were dancing and having fun, all of a sudden there were just gunshots,” witness Hamit Elbgal said of the Oakland shooting.

Mason Stone, 39, was walking when he heard gunfire and ducked behind a vehicle. He told the San Francisco Chronicle that he left the area of the Oakland shooting immediately and that after the Orlando shooting, he came to realize that living in a city meant that something like a shooting could happen at any moment.

“The really scary thing, coming on the heels of the shooting in Orlando, you wonder is it gang related or is it a crazy gunman,” he said, according to SFGate. “I guess you figure sooner or later if you live in a city like that you… realize anything can happen at any time.”

In the aftermath of the Oakland shooting, Jefferies’ mother, Onika Wilson, said that she wanted justice for her daughter, who just hours before had danced in church as a way of honoring the two drowning victims, according to KTVU. Wilson said that she’d spoken with her daughter about 10 minutes before she died to check and ensure she was all right.

“I called my daughter at 5:25 and asked her if she was okay and she said yes,” she said. “I got a phone call that my daughter had been shot at 5:36.”

The Oakland shooting marks the 26th homicide of 2016 for Oakland, and in the wake of the Orlando shooting, there continuing calls for greater gun control laws. Democratic senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut held a filibuster on the issue, finally securing an agreement from Republicans that there would be a vote on expanding background checks on gun applications and that there would be a ban on selling guns to all suspected terrorists. The Guardian also reported that Murphy believed the Senate’s refusal to even vote on anything about gun control with a rising list of victims from gun crimes was beyond belief.

“The failure of this body to do anything, anything at all in the face of that continued slaughter isn’t just painful to us, it’s unconscionable,” Murphy said.

While Murphy had evoked the 2012 Newton school shooting during his 14-hour marathon, the Orlando mass shooting and the Oakland shooting are two recent examples that Murphy could have drawn from to add to his lengthy work in holding control over the Senate floor.

With the Republicans holding the balance of power in the United States Senate, Murphy certainly had his work cut out for him during this filibuster, but finally, he secured what may have been an important first step in establishing tighter gun laws for the American people.

Funeral plans for the victim of the Oakland shooting have not been released as yet to the press.

[Photo by Diana Haven/AP Images]

Share this article: Oakland Shooting: Just Days After Orlando, Mourning Begins Again
More from Inquisitr