Oakland Police Claim Alan Blueford's prints on gun
/A potentially crucial piece of evidence has surfaced in the police shooting that led a mob to shut down last week's Oakland City Council meeting.
Law enforcement sources tell us newly completed lab tests show Skyline High School senior Alan Blueford's fingerprints were on the handgun that he allegedly pointed at an Oakland police officer before being shot and killed May 6.
That would seem to bolster the department's assertion that the officer was acting in self-defense. It may do little to dispel a charge being pushed by some bloggers, however, that a cop planted the gun by the 18-year-old's body.
"Many have concluded" as much, wrote Davey D on his Hip Hop Corner blog. "This would not be unusual in a city that in the past 10 years has had to shell out 58 million dollars in wrongful death shootings and police brutality incidents."
Police point out that the gun was found 20 feet from Blueford's body, an unlikely place to plant a weapon. But then, as one law enforcement source told us, "There is no willingness (in Oakland) to accept any amount of (police) force."
In late May, when Police Chief Howard Jordan showed up at a meeting at the Acts Full Gospel Church in East Oakland to discuss the shooting, Occupy Oakland protesters drowned him out, following him to his car with a bullhorn. It was pretty much the same story at last week's City Council meeting, where shouting protesters - including one dancing on the dais - brought the proceedings to a halt.
The Alameda County district attorney's office is investigating the shooting. Attorney John Burris has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on behalf of Blueford's family, saying the teen was unarmed.
Burris said only that he expects to have the police reports soon and will compare officers' statements and other evidence with "the information I've gathered independently, and advise the family accordingly."
