Wednesday News Roundup
ROUTING PROBLEM CAUSES SYSTEMWIDE BART DELAYS
BART trains are experiencing major systemwide delays this morning because of a routing problem between the West Oakland, Lake Merritt and 12th Street Oakland City Center stations.
The problem was first reported shortly before 6 a.m. and is causing delays of up to 20 minutes. Trains traveling from San Francisco to the East Bay are particularly affected, according to BART officials.
Because of the delays, there will be no connection between Richmond and Pittsburg/Bay Point trains at the 19th Street station.
BART officials said they will not send crews out to repair the problem during peak commute hours because that would cause further delays. Work crews will begin repairs later in the morning.
POLICE NEGOTIATORS TRYING TO COAX MAN OUT OF APARTMENT DURING 11-HOUR STANDOFF
Police this morning remain at the scene of standoff between a suspect and officers at a residence in San Francisco’s Ingleside District.
Officers responded at 8:16 p.m. Tuesday to the 200 block of Schwerin Street in response to a family dispute after the suspect made threats against the victim during a verbal altercation, police said.
The suspect went into his apartment and refused to come out and speak with responding officers, police said.
Police negotiators arrived, but the man has continued to ignore police.
The victim was not injured during the incident, and there are no other individuals inside the suspect’s apartment, according to police.
The 200 block of Schwerin Street remains closed this morning as negotiators try to talk with the suspect.
FIREFIGHTERS RESPOND TO STRUCTURE FIRE
Firefighters this morning responded to a structure fire at an apartment building in Oakland.
Firefighters responded around 2:30 a.m. to the boarded up building on 32nd and Chestnut streets and located a fire on the second floor, according to the Oakland Fire Department.
The fire was reported knocked down around 3 a.m. There have been no reports of injuries at this time.
MAN CHARGED WITH MURDER FOR STABBING OF HALF-BROTHER
A man accused of stabbing his younger half-brother to death outside of an East Oakland apartment complex Friday afternoon was charged with murder Tuesday, prosecutors said.
Demetrius Sells, 29, is charged with murder and use of a deadly weapon for allegedly stabbing Kevin McGhee Jr., 27, with a steak knife outside of a housing complex at 8701 Hillside St. at 1:26 p.m. Friday.
Sells started an argument with McGhee before slapping him in the face and then hitting him in the chest while holding the knife in front of witnesses and surveillance cameras, Oakland police Officer Jason Andersen wrote in court documents.
McGhee was taken to Highland Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Sells fled the area but was identified by witnesses as the assailant.
Oakland police obtained a warrant for Sells’ arrest and captured him at about noon on Saturday in the 5800 block of International Boulevard, Andersen said.
He admitted to hitting McGhee to investigators, but said he did not realize he had stabbed him, according to Andersen.
Sells has several prior convictions, including for second-degree robbery and assault in 2009, battery with injury on emergency personnel in 2012 and grand theft in 2005.
He is being held without bail in Santa Rita Jail in Dublin and was scheduled to appear in court this afternoon, according to jail records.
