OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Two men have been charged with murder in the shooting death of an Oakland police officer while responding to a burglary report at a marijuana business, authorities announced Wednesday.
The suspects, Mark Sanders, 27, of Tracy, and Allen Starr Brown, 28, of Chico, remained in custody and were scheduled for arraignment Thursday. It was unclear if they had legal representation.
The officer, Tuan Le, 36, was shot in the head and died at the hospital. He was in plainclothes and driving an unmarked truck when he and other officers responded to a report of a burglary at a suspected illegal cannabis grow house near Jack London Square.
According to prosecutors, Sanders opened fire from a car with Brown inside, after officers saw several people leaving the location. Le was the 54th Oakland police officer to die in the line of duty and the first killed in nearly 15 years.
Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price and interim Police Chief Darren Allison announced the arrests and charges at a news conference, where Price assured Le’s family that her office would seek a sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole for the officer’s killers.
A third man, Sebron Ray Russell, 30, is also charged with taking part in the burglary. Sanders and Russell have prior criminal records, with Sanders pleading no contest to voluntary manslaughter for a 2014 shooting incident when he was 17.
The investigation is ongoing, as police continue to pursue other suspects in connection with the burglary.