It turns out it wasn't protesters keeping Oakland Police busy Election Night.
In what's being described as a "caravan of criminals," police said several people took advantage of timing to systematically break into East Oakland businesses and pot dispensaries Tuesday night. As officers were downtown monitoring Election Night events, calls started pouring in of an organized group of dozens of heavily armed suspects.
"(They were) targeting individual businesses and locations in East Oakland for very violent robberies, one after another," said Barry Donelan, president of the Oakland Police Officers' Union.
For four hours, the group hit businesses including auto shops, shoe stores, a Starbucks and two pot dispensaries, even shooting two security guards.
When officers caught up with them, things got really dicey.
"Specifically at the 92nd Ave. scene, as the officers moved in to try and make arrests, the suspects got in their vehicles, ran police officers over," Donelan said.
That sent three officers to the hospital with broken bones, but a 20-year-old Oakland man was fatally shot by police at the scene.
"(We) recovered a lot of firearms," Donelan told KCBS Radio. "A lot of firearms inside abandoned cars, at various scenes, even on the street as they were making arrests, found guns lying on the street. It was a very scary evening all the way around for the residents out there in East Oakland."
A dozen people have been arrested so far.
