OAKLAND – A girl who is about to become two and her father died and other family members were injured early Saturday in a suspicious fire in their home in East Oakland.
Investigators are trying to determine if the fire was linked to a fatal shooting incident at Booker’s Grocery Liquor store a week ago. The shooting could be linked to another liquor store in West Oakland on Monday. And on Wednesday night, Booker’s Grocery Liquor was set on fire.
The names of the 37-year-old father and his daughter, who would become two in May, have not been released. The deaths are being investigated as murders, the city’s 43rd and 44th of the year.
The fire broke out while the family was sleeping at 00:14 in the house in the 9500 block of Stearns Avenue, not far from the Oakland Zoo. Other family members were able to escape, but the girl and her father were found dead inside by firefighters.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has been called in to investigate, along with Oakland Police and Fire Services, Alameda County Arson Task Force and the District Attorney’s Office.
In the early stages of the investigation, the authorities believe that the house’s fire may have been intentionally lit. This came a few days after a fire in Booker’s Grocery Liquor, in 90th Avenue and Olive Street, which is being investigated as a possible arson.
Last Saturday, 25-year-old Dejoh Woods was shot dead in the liquor store, in the third murder of the day and the sixth in four days. He was shot around 9pm by another man who visits the store regularly.
The shooting could be related to the shooting of a cashier in a liquor store in West Oakland Monday night.
A reward of up to $ 40,000 is being offered for information leading to the arrest of people responsible for the deaths of the father and daughter and the people injured during the Saturday morning fire. At this time last year, Oakland was investigating 16 murders.
