South Berkeley Homicide Victim Identified

The man shot and killed in South Berkeley the evening of Thursday, Jan. 26 has been identified as 35-year-old Hercules resident Kenneth Warren.

Warren had just left his uncle's barbershop, Don's Headquarters at 3019 Shattuck Ave., and was walking up steps to a home next door when he was gunned down, Berkeley Voice reports. 

"He slapped my knee and said 'I'll see you tomorrow' and not 15 seconds later I hear a barrage of gunfire,'" said Don Warren, 61, owner of Don's Headquarters.

Witnesses say that Warren collapsed on the porch of the duplex at 2114 Emerson Street, Berkeleyside reports, before the suspects walked up the stairs and fired some more rounds point blank into his body.

Just before 7 p.m., officers responded to the scene and found Warren suffering from multiple gunshot wounds near an apartment building at the corner of Shattuck Avenue and Emerson Street, according to police Sgt. Mary Kusmiss.

Click here for a video from a Berkeley Daily Planet reader showing the police response and aftermath of the shooting.

The victim was taken to Highland Hospital in Oakland where he was pronounced dead. Warren was the father of five children.

"The evidence suggests that this was not a random shooting," Kusmiss said. "This victim was the focus of the shooter's attention. We don't know why as of yet."

Kusmiss said officers are conducting a neighborhood canvass and community members have come forward with information.

According to members of the area's neighborhood watch group who wrote to the Berkeley Daily Planet, up to 25 shots were fired in three clusters. One witness claims to have seen a "man with dark skin" get into a dark grey Honda Accord and drive off without his headlights on heading east on Emerson Street.

No suspect description was immediately available from the police.

The neighborhood plans to hold a gathering around 6 p.m. Friday at the intersection of Shattuck and Emerson to commemorate Warren’s life and death.

Police are urging anyone who witnessed the murder or has any information about it to call the Homicide department at 510-981-5741.

This is Berkeley's first homicide of the year. Last year, the city saw just one homicide, and in 2010 there were two.

Were you in the neighborhood when the shooting occurred? Did you see or hear anything? Let us know in the comments.