OAKLAND — Police say they’ve identified the one who dumped a suitcase containing a young man's body into Lake Merritt last 12 months, but are still waiting for an autopsy report to find out the victim's explanation for death.

Police arrested 38-year-old Marice Bronson in reference to the invention of the body on Halloween 2023, but Bronson was later released without charges. Authorities say it is because while Bronson allegedly bragged to several people about dumping the body within the lake, she also claimed the victim died of a fentanyl overdose.

Now, homicide investigators are waiting to see if the victim died of an overdose or another cause, or if there’s evidence that he was still respiration when he was dumped within the lake. The final result of the report will determine whether to pursue murder charges or less serious charges related to the disposal of the body, authorities said.

The case began with a 911 call on October 31, 2023, when the body of 23-year-old Gabriel Gomez-Raymundo was found at a bit of Lake Merritt near Lakeshore Avenue. Police said they received an anonymous tip just a few days later asking them to research Bronson within the case.

Authorities said they subsequently spoke to many people who claimed Bronson took responsibility for Gomez-Raymundo being within the lake. He allegedly said things like, “I threw someone in Lake Merritt, didn't you hear about that?”

In one other case, he reportedly joked that he would hand over a one that helped get rid of the body in exchange for a $10,000 reward offered by the police.

Bronson was arrested on suspicion of murder on Sept. 4 but later released without charges, records show. He also faces a grand larceny charge in Alameda County for allegedly stealing from a TJ Maxx store in Alameda.

Police say that along with claiming that he threw Gomez-Raymundo into the lake, Bronson also testified that the 2 spent several days together at Bronson's apartment and that Gomez-Raymundo apparently died of a fentanyl overdose after sleeping for nearly two days.

Staff author Harry Harris contributed to this report.

OAKLAND – Further investigation has revealed that 14 people were shot last week after fights broke out during a sideshow near Lake Merritt – not 15 as originally reported, police said Tuesday.

Authorities consider there have been multiple shooters, but as of early Tuesday afternoon, nobody had been officially charged.

In a news release Tuesday, police said that lower than a half-hour after the mass shooting that occurred within the 400 block of Grand Avenue at roughly 8:45 p.m. on June 19, officers were called to a different shooting in the realm of ​​tenth Avenue and East twenty fourth Street.

Two men were injured within the shooting; certainly one of them was taken to a hospital by other people and was initially considered the fifteenth victim of the Grand Avenue shooting, police said.

Authorities said two suspects were arrested in reference to the double shooting.

The mass shooting marred a peaceful day wherein about 5,000 people celebrated the federal holiday Juneteenth at Lake Merritt. The shooting occurred after fights broke out amongst quite a few spectators at a sideshow involving about 20 vehicles, including dirt bikes and all-terrain vehicles, police said. The gun violence apparently began when a person ran across the hood of a vehicle and was severely beaten by the occupants.

A girl was arrested for allegedly hitting two cops who were providing first aid to a victim.

The Grand Avenue shooting would be the largest mass shooting in the town's history. In February 1992, two people were killed and eight injured in a shooting at a bar in North Oakland.

In June 2021, a shooting during a Juneteenth rally on Lakeshore Avenue left one person dead and 7 injured. No charges have been filed against anyone.

The investigation into the Grand Avenue shooting is ongoing. Anyone with information can contact police at 510-238-3821 or 510-238-7950. Anyone with video or photo footage that would help with the investigation is asked to send it to cidvideos@oaklandca.gov.

OAKLAND — A person was fatally shot while driving near Lake Merritt on Sunday and plowed his vehicle into a close-by motel car parking zone, making a public crime scene but there was no immediate clarity as to why he was attacked, authorities said.

According to Oakland police, the driving force was traveling east on Lake Merritt Boulevard past twelfth Street – near the Rene C. Davidson Courthouse – around 11:55 a.m. when he was shot by an unknown assailant.

The wounded man drove his Honda Odyssey minivan a few half-mile further and crashed through the fence of an Americas Best Value Inn motel, half a block south of Lake Merritt Boulevard and East twelfth Street. The vehicle crashed into two parked cars within the motel car parking zone before coming to a stop.

The driver, who was the only occupant of the minivan, was pronounced dead on the scene. His name has not been publicly released pending his official identification and notification of his next of kin by the Alameda County Coroner's Bureau.

The aftermath of the accident was visible from the motel's sidewalk: twisted metal from the fence — including a chunk stuck within the front of the minivan — and various automotive debris strewn across the asphalt, while a yellow tarp was draped over the passenger side. Police officers may be seen retrieving shell casings from the shooting site a couple of dozen meters away.

Police haven’t disclosed the motive or circumstances resulting in the shooting, nor have they released an outline of the suspect. They confirmed that the victim was shot from the surface of his vehicle, but it surely was not immediately clear whether the shots got here from one other vehicle or one other vantage point resembling the sidewalk or roadway.

No other injuries were reported in reference to Sunday's shooting. It was the twenty eighth homicide of the yr that Oakland police have been investigating. The department had investigated 34 homicides at the identical time in 2023.

Anyone with information for OPD investigators can call 510-238-3821, leave a tip at 510-238-7950 or contact Crime Stoppers of Oakland at 510-777-8572.