Family Blames OPD's Slow Response After Fatal Shooting Over Stolen Property – NBC Bay Area

An Oakland grandmother says her former son-in-law was killed in an armed standoff over his stolen property and she could be alive if Oakland police officers respond to more than a dozen calls made by the family as they tracked their stolen devices across the city.

“I think people need to know what really happened,” said Teryra Hutchinson, who told NBC Bay Area's Investigative Unit that she wanted to set the record straight after having seen misleading headlines and police statements about what happened to her son-in-law, Charles Calloway. .

According to court records stemming from the shooting, Calloway, 39, was killed in March during a burglary at an occupied East Oakland home. Calloway and his cousin, David Washington, “forced their way through the rear door of the residence with the intent to commit a robbery” before the men “exchanged gunfire” with a resident, according to the description of the shooting by the Oakland Police Department.

Calloway was killed in the shooting.

Hutchinson, however, said law enforcement's account was misleading and that Calloway died confronting the people he said stole the grandmother's rental car more than two hours earlier, so that she was going out to open the gate of a friend's house. Her purse, tax documents and Apple devices were inside, Hutchinson said.

A neighbor across the street who witnessed the theft first called police shortly before 8 p.m., according to dispatch records obtained by NBC Bay Area through a California Public Records Act request.

“Someone just stole the lady’s car here, right in front of my house,” the neighbor reported to dispatchers in a call recorded by Oakland police at 7:53 p.m.

The dispatcher said Hutchinson officers were on their way, records show.

“We have officers on their way to you, okay?” the dispatcher told him.

Then, Hutchinson said she called her daughter Mercedes, Charles Calloway's former partner. Mercedes had planned to meet Calloway so he could pick up their children that evening, but she diverted after the flight so she could bring her mother an iPad that she could use as a temporary phone.

“The kids kind of start playing on the iPad and they're like, 'Hey, Grandma, we see your things moving,'” Mercedes said.

Hutchinson and his daughter continued to call police as they tracked the stolen devices across the city, including to one location where they told dispatchers they could see the stolen rental car. In total, Hutchinson and Mercedes said they made at least a dozen calls to Oakland police.

Dispatchers continued to say officers would be on their way, according to police records, and warned Hutchinson and Mercedes not to confront the thieves or get too close to their stolen vehicle.

“Every time they said the police would come,” Hutchinson said. “Except for the last few times, they disconnected the call and the operator said to me, 'Ma'am, if you want to know when the police are coming, you need to call emergency.'”

Hutchinson and Mercedes aren't the only ones waiting a long time for the police to arrive. Last year, the average monthly response time for “priority two” calls, such as stolen car reports, exceeded more than six and a half hours, according to an Oakland Police Department report. This is an increase from around two and a half hours in 2019.

As the clock ticked past 10 p.m., more than two hours after she first called 911, Hutchinson said police still had not shown up.

“To say that help is on the way, and it’s not, what do you do? » Mercedes said, noting that they probably would have gone home if the police had told them no one would come. “That’s simply wrong.”

At that time, at least one of their devices was ringing near a home at 102nd Avenue and International Boulevard. That's where Calloway and his cousin, David Washington, got involved. Hutchinson and Mercedes said Calloway told them he was going to try to recover their stolen belongings himself before leaving with the children.

Hutchinson said she didn't see exactly what happened next, but she heard a gunshot.

According to a person inside the 102nd Avenue home who spoke to NBC Bay Area, Calloway and Washington confronted a woman in her car nearby who had Hutchinson's stolen phone, and she was hit by a ball.

Surveillance video from the home shows the woman pulling into the driveway yelling, “I just got shot in the head over the phone!” »

Then the video showed Calloway and Washington arriving, and one of the men heading toward the house to claim his property. The grainy video stops after that, and the only other video shown at NBC Bay Area picks up during the chaotic aftermath of the shooting.

According to the police report, Calloway and Washington entered the home through the back door before Calloway was killed in a shootout with one of the home's residents, who was shot in the foot. Washington was later arrested after fleeing the scene, according to the police report.

Neither Hutchinson nor Mercedes say they saw the shooting, but Mercedes ran into the house after hearing the gunshots.

“I come running and, at first, the guy pulls his gun on me,” Mercedes said. “I can see Charles lying on the ground. I explain to [armed resident] that [Calloway] is my husband, the father of the children.

Mercedes said the man then lowered the gun and stayed with Calloway until she died, her voice being the last thing he heard.

“I love you,” Mercedes told him. “I appreciate everything you’ve done for us.”

Mercedes, who said her children are still grieving the loss of their father, said she demanded answers from officers as they responded to the shooting.

“I said, 'Where have you guys been?' We called you. Why didn't you ever come.'

Hutchinson had a similar message for the ministry.

“Charles would be alive if the police had responded,” Hutchinson said. “That’s why people are taking matters into their own hands, because they’re not getting help.”

Oakland police declined to comment, saying they were still investigating the incident.

Oakland Police Association President Huy Nguyen said he believes the city will see more such incidents if it continues to cut police numbers due to budget constraints.

Hutchinson and Mercedes say they also want two people inside the home, named in court documents, to be held accountable, believing they are connected in some way to the theft. Alameda County court records show they have previous convictions for offenses including auto theft, identity theft and possession of stolen property.

When contacted by NBC Bay Area, one of the residents of the home denied being involved in the robbery and said the woman who showed up in the surveillance video saying she had been shot was headed to their house to try to sell them Hutchinson's stolen phone. They said Calloway and Washington should have taken more time to explain the situation before entering their home armed with weapons.

Washington, who himself was convicted of robbery, now faces a long list of charges related to the shooting, including homicide. Even though Calloway was shot by someone else inside the home, Washington is charged with his death, accused of committing a crime that led to his cousin's death.

Hutchinson does not believe Washington should face homicide charges and said she never intended for Calloway to get involved.

“Charles was my son,” she said with tears in her eyes. “I actually asked Charles not to come. I didn't want him to come.