University Ave. building evacuated after BPD shoot suspect during standoff

A 33-year-old man is in critical condition after a Berkeley police officer shot him Sunday morning. Police say he was threatening officers with a gun. Police later sent an alert warning of a “suspicious package” in the same block.

Police and paramedics first went to the 1700 block of University Avenue, near McGee Avenue, after 911 callers reported a woman screaming for help inside an apartment building there, Berkeley Police Department spokesperson Officer Jessica Perry said in an email.

The building where the standoff took place was evacuated around midday Sunday, though police did not immediately say whether the incidents were linked.

The man came out of the apartment holding a gun and “made threats to shoot officers,” Perry wrote. Police tried to negotiate with the man and “to ascertain the safety of any other occupants,” she said.

“The subject exited the residence again with a firearm,” she said. An officer shot the man.

The man was sent to a local trauma center and was in critical condition as of Sunday morning. A victim, a woman, was also on scene but unharmed, police said.

Police were still still at the scene Sunday and asked people to avoid the area of University and McGee avenues. The department’s Homicide Division and Internal Affairs Bureau are investigating, along with the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, Perry said. The officer has been placed on administrative leave, as is protocol for police shootings at BPD.

On Sunday afternoon the building where the standoff took place was evacuated. Shortly before 12:30 p.m. police sent an electronic alert again asking people to avoid the area “due to police activity involving a suspicious package.” Police said University Avenue was closed in both directions in the area.

This article was updated after publication with additional information. Berkeleyside will continue to update this article if and when new details become available.