Man Dies In Berkeley Sorority House
Monday morning saw Berkeley’s fourth homicide this year. This death, however, is the first in the student Southside neighborhoods since 2002, and has brought one of Cal’s greek sororities into the investigation. From ABC7:
The man had been shot and his body was found inside the Alpha Omicron Pi house on Prospect Street and Durant Avenue, not far from the Cal stadium…
Officer Ed Galvan said members of the Alpha Omicron Pi sorority have told police they do not recognize the man but he was let into their house, after which residents called 911.
Jeannie Czerner, Alpha Omicron Pi President: “The members of Alpha Omicron Pi understand there is a matter under investigation involving our property. We would like to clarify that there was not a party at our house yesterday evening as reported earlier by the media. We do not know the identity of the victim, but we can confirm it was not one of our members…”
Galvan said the victim suffered at least one gunshot wound, but residents and neighbors of the house have not reported hearing any gunshots.
The house is not being considered a crime scene, Galvan said, but Berkeley police were seeking a warrant this morning to search it…
The main focus of the investigation remained at the sorority house this morning. Galvan described sorority members as cooperative in the investigation, giving written statements and interviews.
Police and the coroner have not identified the victim or any suspects in his death, Galvan said.
A spokeswoman for UC Berkeley said today the victim is not believed to have been a student at the university.
Right now, there are a lot of unanswered questions. Why would the body be transported from Telegraph/Durant, where the homicide may have potentially occurred to AOPi, a good half mile away and uphill? Why that house, which has an enormous staircase for someone who has been shot to climb, and no others that were closer and more accessible? These connections do not make much sense, and my hunch is that what is being publicly released now is just the tip of the iceberg.
Those are some good questions Ben. I would add that if someone was looking to dump the body at a random location and get out of town, the AOPi house doesn’t make much sense. It’s not really near any busy streets, kind of tucked away on a very low speed side street.
It makes you wonder if the victim had some connection to AOPi, maybe someone’s out-of-town boyfriend visiting for the long weekend?
Comment by Berkeley Mountain Lion Patrol — September 4, 2006 @ 1:14 pm
Does anyone know if there is going to be increased UCPD and Berkeley PD presence in southside now? This is pretty creepy.
Comment by Range Rover — September 4, 2006 @ 1:23 pm
there’s an interesting comment on the ucberkeley livejournal:
what i’m thinking is maybe all the police on telegraph were responding to this shooting, but whoever drove the victim to AOPi had left the scene before the cops arrived, and the police didn’t know where the body was until the 911 call?
Comment by Berkeley Mountain Lion Patrol — September 4, 2006 @ 1:37 pm
As a fellow (although male) greek, I’d just like to point out that the house was having their bid day, a non-alcoholic all-members event prior to this. It was reported by many media outlets as a party, and really has served to cast a negative light on an otherwise great sorority.
Comment by Anonymous — September 4, 2006 @ 5:16 pm
is AOPI the shady sorority on campus?
Comment by Anonymous — September 4, 2006 @ 5:35 pm
there’s another interesting comment on ucb livejournal, basically saying that the victim was involved in a drug deal that went bad, knew a girl in AOPi, walked back to their house instead of going to the hospital, and died there.
Comment by Berkeley Mountain Lion Patrol — September 4, 2006 @ 6:27 pm
Not at all.
Comment by also anonymous — September 4, 2006 @ 6:36 pm
Panhellenic Bid Day was Thursday.
Comment by Punch My Ballot — September 4, 2006 @ 7:23 pm
No actually the AOPi house isn’t the shady one on campus. I have a friend in there who’s celibate. There are far more slutty sororities.
Comment by Anonymous — September 4, 2006 @ 8:04 pm
hahaha, since when does shady mean slutty? i’m pretty sure shady means capable of having a man shot dead found inside your house.
Comment by Anonymous — September 4, 2006 @ 8:31 pm
I don’t think the random appearance of a shooting victim at their house actually reflects on any of the girls who live there. It’s not like, you know, this is something they endorse or do regularly.
Anybody else have the opinion that the PD should spend less time on alcohol decoy operations and more on patrolling for suspicious people with guns?
Comment by also anonymous — September 4, 2006 @ 8:43 pm
Once I was walking down telegraph and between Channing and Haste suddenly one guy holding a gun in his hand was chasing another guy - although he wasn’t making a move to stop and aim or fire the gun. The street went back to normal quickly. One thing I think is interesting about UC Santa Cruz (where I am this summer) vs. Berkeley is that Berkeley’s murder rate is actually quite low, compared to the rate of petty theft. I’m far more confident leaving a bike locked outside in Santa Cruz, or even leaving my apartment unlocked when walking around the block. But Santa Cruz has lots of freak bludgeonings and murders out in the woods, bodies floating in the harbor i.e. well over 4 this year. The rate of enforcement for bad parking maneuvers is much higher here, and moreover, the line at the post office is usually 10 minutes or less. This last detail is probably the area where students are getting cheated in Berkeley the most.
Comment by it — September 5, 2006 @ 9:44 am
Of course that is true, I think the point is whether the victim showed up there completely randomly, or whether he had some connection to someone in the house.
Note: I don’t even know any girls in AOPi and I’m not trying to impugn them in any way. It could very easily be just the way they have said. It just seems like a weird place for a shooting victim to end up, especially if he was shot down on telegraph. I think that’s why some people are asking if he knew someone in AOPi or had some reason to go there.
Comment by Berkeley Mountain Lion Patrol — September 5, 2006 @ 10:18 am
i’ve never slept with any women from AOPi. i guess that doesn’t mean much though.
Comment by chet (the virgin CEO) — September 5, 2006 @ 1:16 pm
“Anybody else have the opinion that the PD should spend less time on alcohol decoy operations and more on patrolling for suspicious people with guns? ”
Well put. I’d much rather step over freshman puke than a dead body.
Comment by Megan — September 5, 2006 @ 5:58 pm
Different papers have different accounts of how the victim ended up at the sorority house. The DC is reporting that an employee at the house knew the victim, found him injured, and brought him to the house not realizing he was shot. The SF Chron doesn’t have this angle. The Trib is reporting that the victim was with a friend who knew someone at the house as the reason they went there.
Wonder who has it right?
Comment by Anon — September 6, 2006 @ 8:32 am
www.eastbayexpress.com/
Issues/2006-09-06/news/
bottomfeeder.html
Comment by hend — September 6, 2006 @ 8:48 am