Grand Theft Auto comes to life in Oakland
Conn Carroll
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It should be a scene restricted to video game fantasy, not real life: a Dodge Charger, a Cadillac, and a Jeep Grand Cherokee, all with gunmen blasting semi-automatic weapons, chasing a small Honda Accord through the downtown of a major American city.
Except this wasn’t Grand Theft Auto. This was just another Friday morning in Oakland, California.
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The drama began just after dawn at an average strip mall a few miles away when the driver of the Accord arrived at his Chinese restaurant to begin prepping for the day. Security cameras show the other cars entering the parking lot and boxing the Accord in.
But the Accord manages to outmaneuver the assailants and take off down Lakeshore Avenue. The other cars then pursue the Accord, with passengers firing guns at it. The pursuing cars then began ramming the Accord, causing it to crash into a light pole and flip over next to Oakland’s iconic Lake Merritt.
Stunned in his upside-down car, the victim had little time to compose himself before the assailants got out of their cars, semi-automatic weapons drawn, and proceeded to rob the driver of his cash and a small handgun. The assailants made no effort to provide medical care to their victim.
“It is getting bolder and bolder every day,” another business owner told NBC News. “Out there, the mentality is, Asians got cash. No, not every Asian carrying cash. Yet we’re being targeted and it’s unfair. It’s really unfair. We live, we work here, we try to make a living. But it happens on a weekly basis.”
It is unfair. Asians should not be the regular targets of armed robberies. No one should.
Unfortunately, if they want change, Oakland residents will have to stop voting for Democratic mayors and district attorneys who prioritize social justice over law and order.