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Officer Critically Shot by Oakland Gang Member

FREMONT, CA – A Fremont police officer was critically wounded in a shootout Friday with an alleged gang member in East Oakland, who then stole a car at gunpoint and fled, authorities say.

The officer, a six-year veteran of the force whose name has not been released, suffered gunshot wounds to the pelvis and groin during the exchange at 2:38 p.m. near the corner of Auseon and Bancroft avenues. He underwent surgery at Highland Hospital late Friday.

“We’re all on pins and needles – he’s hour to hour,” Fremont Police Chief Craig Steckler said.

Dr. Javid Sadjadi said the officer had lost a significant amount of blood. He said the officer was in critical but stable condition and had suffered “rather extreme injuries – it’s really touch and go.” Wave of violence

The shooting was the latest in a string of violent crimes in Oakland in the past few days. Six people were killed in a one-week span, including 13-year-old Jimon Clark, a recent middle school graduate who was shot to death Wednesday night on a street near his East Oakland home.

Jimon was killed on Bancroft Avenue near 61st Avenue, about a mile and a half northwest of where the officer was shot Friday.

Witnesses and police described a wild scene Friday after the officer and a colleague from Fremont tried to arrest Andrew Barrientos, 20, who was wanted for a string of crimes including attempted carjacking, resisting arrest and an alleged attack on the mother of his young child on Aug. 12. ‘Gangster’ tattoos

The officers spotted Barrientos, who police said has “Decoto Gangster” tattooed on his forearms, outside a residence on Auseon Avenue.

Barrientos fled through the neighborhood of 1920s-era bungalows, exchanging shots with the officers as he ran, until he got to a mini-market about a block away, at 86th and Bancroft avenues, police said.

The fugitive tried to carjack a man’s Acura in the store’s parking lot and shot at the driver when he sped away, shattering the car’s glass, police said. The driver was cut by the glass but wasn’t shot.

Then the gunman carjacked another motorist and drove off in a dark-green, four-door Mazda 626, with a California license plate of 4MJE548.

Police described Barrientos as Latino, 5-foot-7 and 240 pounds, with close-cropped hair. He has ties to Union City, San Leandro, San Jose and Oakland. In addition to the tattoos on his arms, the word “Decoto” is tattooed on the back of his neck.

Chief Steckler said both his officers had fired on the gunman but apparently did not hit him. Market has video

The carjackings were captured on surveillance video taken at the mini-market, said Sayez Aldahmi, 18, whose family runs the Arrwa 1 Stop Market. The man whose Mazda was stolen had just walked out of the store.

“The guy was OK,” Aldahmi said.

A nearby resident, Tarente Randler, 21, said he had been inside his home when he heard eight or nine shots, followed by the sound of sirens.

“The next thing, about 20 cops came,” he said. “They picked the (wounded) cop up and put him in a car.”

He said the officer had been in plainclothes.

Steckler said the officer is in his 30s and has young children. Friends and family were at the hospital, he said.

“This is unusual for my department,” Steckler said. “I have never seen an officer shot in the 19 years I have been chief.”

The officer was in East Oakland working as part of the southern Alameda County major crimes task force, which targets local gangs. Fremont police had alerted Oakland that they were going to be looking for Barrientos in the city but had said they did not need any assistance, Oakland officials said.

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