By Laura Dudnick
May 5, 2008
Police seek additional witnesses to UC Berkeley student murder
Police on Sunday were asking for additional witnesses to come forward with information about a fight Saturday morning that led to the murder of a University of California, Berkeley student.
Christopher Wootton, a 21-year-old engineering senior due to graduate this month, was fatally stabbed by Berkeley resident Andrew Thomas Hoeft-Edenfield, 20, around 2:45 a.m. Saturday, according to Berkeley police Sgt. Mary Kusmiss.
Hoeft-Edenfield, who has no affiliation with UC Berkeley, was arrested later that day after he admitted to stabbing someone during the fight, Kusmiss said.
Officers responded to a report of a stabbing in the 2400 block of Warring Street at about 2:45 a.m. Saturday, where they found Wootton surrounded by a group of about 20 college-aged males and suffering a stab wound to the left side of his upper chest, Kusmiss said.
Wootton was transported to a local trauma center where he was pronounced dead.
Detectives interviewed about six witnesses Saturday who identified Hoeft-Edenfield as the suspect, according to Kusmiss.
“A couple witnesses who had been at a party with (Hoeft-Edenfield) earlier in the evening (and) who knew his first name were able to describe him to detectives,” Kusmiss said.
Detectives contacted Hoeft-Edenfield, who willingly came to the Police Department to discuss his involvement in the fight and “eventually admitted to being the one with the knife… (Though) he was not certain who in fact he had stabbed, he recognized that he had stabbed somebody,” Kusmiss said. “That statement provided enough probable cause to arrest him for murder.”
Around 3 p.m. Saturday, Hoeft-Edenfield was arrested for one count of murder and booked into City of Berkeley Jail, according to Kusmiss.
Police are focused now on piecing together more details of the fight that led to Wootton’s death. “We would like the answers to solidify the ‘Why?'” Kusmiss said.
Police determined the incident started as a verbal exchange between Hoeft-Edenfield and at least two UC Berkeley male students, and quickly escalated into a physical fight involving approximately 15 more students and one or two of Hoeft-Edenfield’s friends, according to Kusmiss.
Wootton somehow became involved in the physical fight and was subsequently stabbed by Hoeft-Edenfield, Kusmiss said.
“We know a handful of members of the physical fight … have not come forward as of yet,” Kusmiss said. “Many of them dashed off as the police were arriving.
“We…encourage other witnesses to come forward who could provide more of the pieces, details of the exchange and subsequent fight,” Kusmiss said. “There are many cases of violent crimes where witnesses for a variety of reasons are reluctant to come forward. This is a case where the arrest was really due to those witnesses who came forward. They should be applauded.”
Wootton, a Bellflower, Calif., resident, served as vice president of the Sigma Pi fraternity his junior year, and was the fraternity’s pledge educator this year, according to UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau.
Wootton planned to study nuclear engineering in graduate school at UC Berkeley following his graduation this month, Birgeneau said.
“This futile and senseless killing is a loss felt by us all, including his teachers, friends and especially his fraternity brothers at Sigma Pi,” Birgeneau said in a prepared statement.
Wootton is survived by his father and brother, according to Kusmiss.
Classes at UC Berkeley will continue Monday as scheduled, according to Marie Felde, a campus spokeswoman. University Health Services at the Tang Center will provide counseling for students, faculty and staff. Students may contact Counseling and Psychological Services at (510) 642-9494, and faculty and staff may contact CARE Services at (510) 643-7754.
Medical examiner ID’s man shot dead near Japan Center
The San Francisco medical examiner’s office identified 32-year-old Oakland resident Ajason Black as the victim of a fatal shooting Saturday night near San Francisco’s Japan Center.
Initial reports indicated Black was shot at Geary Boulevard and Buchanan Street at about 10:15 p.m. before he ran across the street and collapsed, police said.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Black’s death was the first of two murders reported in San Francisco Saturday night. About a half hour later, officers responded to the 1000 block of Connecticut Street in the city’s Potrero Hill neighborhood on reports of a separate shooting, according to police. Arriving officers found 41-year-old Victor Carson, a San Francisco resident, suffering a gunshot wound to his neck, police said.
Carson was taken to San Francisco General Hospital where he was pronounced dead just after 11 p.m., according to the medical examiner’s office.
2-year-old child drowns in Antioch
A 2-year-old girl died at the hospital after drowning in a swimming pool at her Antioch home Sunday night, said a police lieutenant.
A lot of people were home at the time but it appeared to be “one of those tragic accidents,” said Lt. John Vanderklugt.
Police responded to a report of the drowning at about 8:20 p.m. and the girl was transported to Sutter Delta Medical Center.
The Contra Costa County coroner’s office received a call on the incident at 9:18 p.m. and the girl was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Out of respect for the family, the Police Department did not immediately disclose an address or any names.
Teenage boy injured after falling from cliff
A 16-year-old boy was injured after falling from a cliff at Schoolhouse Beach near Bodega Bay Sunday evening, according to the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department.
The boy tried to climb approximately 30 feet up a cliff from the beach and had almost reached the top when he fell backwards and landed on rocks at the bottom of the cliff, the sheriff’s department reported.
The boy was reportedly slipping in and out of consciousness when the incident was reported at about 6 p.m.
Authorities hiked across the beach to reach the boy, who suffered moderate injuries and was flown in an emergency helicopter to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital for treatment, according to the sheriff’s department.
Four pulled from Richardson Bay after sailboat sinks
A Good Samaritan plucked two adults and two children from the Richardson Bay Sunday morning after a sailboat sank near Sausalito, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
The 25-foot sailing vessel went down just after 11 a.m. about one quarter mile from the shoreline, Coast Guard Petty Officer Matthew Henry reported.
All four occupants of the vessel were wearing life jackets and there were no reports of injuries, Henry said.
A Good Samaritan who was on a nearby vessel helped pull the four from the water and a Coast Guard boat then responded and brought them back to shore, according to Henry.
Woman followed from bar and carjacked at gunpoint
A woman was carjacked in a Petaluma Safeway supermarket parking lot early Saturday morning after a man allegedly followed her from a local bar and pressed a gun to her back, police reported.
The alleged carjacking occurred at about 1:40 a.m. in the Safeway parking lot in Washington Square, according to police.
The woman had just left the First Edition, a local bar located at 1420 E. Washington St., and had gone to the supermarket.
As she got out of her vehicle, she reportedly saw a man she had seen at the bar.
The man allegedly stuck an object in the woman’s back and told her it was a gun. He then reportedly forced her into the passenger side of her vehicle.
The man got in the driver’s seat and headed southbound on Park Lane. Near the intersection of Park Lane and McGregor Avenue, the man reportedly pushed the woman out of the vehicle and fled the area in her car.
The victim described her attacker as a white man standing about 6 feet 1 inch tall and weighing about 225 to 230 pounds. He had a shaved head, numerous tattoos on his upper arms and was wearing a red baseball cap and red sweatshirt, police reported.
Police are asking anyone with information about the incident to call the Petaluma Police Department at (707) 778-4372.
Man gets beat to death
A man was found beaten behind an Oakland building at Lowell Park Sunday morning and he was later pronounced dead at a local hospital from his injuries, according to the Police Department.
Police reported to the 1000 block of 12th Street just after 1 a.m., where they found the man who was then transported to the hospital.
No suspects were arrested, said police.
Saturday fire displaced all residents of apartment building
A three-alarm that burned in a Sunnyvale apartment complex Saturday afternoon displaced all residents of the building, Sunnyvale Public Safety Department Lt. Jeff Schlesinger said Sunday.
The two-story building at 616 Morse Ave. has 20 units, two of which were vacant. Schlesinger said residents of 18 units were displaced by the flames and about five families received aid from the American Red Cross. The number of individuals displaced by the blaze was not immediately available.
Fire crews responded to reports of the fire at 1:52 p.m. and found flames licking the roof of the building, city spokesman John Pilger said. A preliminary investigation indicated that the flames spread from a barbeque to a nearby tree, which then ignited the roof and attic space.
Schlesinger said the flames ran along the entire attic of the second floor and completely destroyed three or four separate units. Other units sustained varying levels of water, smoke or fire damage.
By 4 p.m., the fire was declared under control.
The official cause of the blaze remains under investigation and the cost of the damage has not yet been determined.
“I would suspect that it’s going to be a total loss,” Schlesinger said.
No one was injured in the blaze.
Fire causes $350,000 in damage to family’s house
A house fire in Fremont on Saturday afternoon caused an estimated $350,000 in damage to the structure and contents, fire officials said Sunday.
Firefighters responded to the single-story house in the 4300 block of Vincente Drive at about 1:25 p.m. where the four-member family had already self-evacuated, according to the Fremont Fire Department.
The blaze was controlled by 1:45 p.m.
The flames caused “significant fire damage” to the home’s master bedroom and bathroom and smoke damage to the rest of the house, fire officials said.
One resident was checked by emergency personnel at the scene and no injuries to firefighters were reported, according to the fire department.
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