OAKLAND — Police were reviewing footage from a security camera that depicted a triple-shooting suspect fleeing to a vehicle and making his getaway.
Then a detective noticed something: This wasn’t your typical getaway driver. There was a Lyft sticker on the back of the car.
Police were able to confirm that this triple murder suspect had, in fact, called in a Lyft to pick him up from what police say nearly became a homicide scene. And he allegedly used his own account too. After reviewing records from the rideshare company, police obtained an arrest warrant for 23-year-old Zaire Campbell on attempted murder charges.
Campbell, an Alameda resident, was charged on Aug. 28 with three counts of attempted murder. But he remained a fugitive until Wednesday, when he was booked into Santa Rita Jail, court records show. The jail intake form doesn’t say where he was arrested.
Campbell allegedly shot two 16-year-old boys and a 23-year-old man on the 700 block of Center Street near West Oakland BART a little before 11 a.m. on Aug. 5. After allegedly firing a pistol at them, Campbell reportedly ran to a nearby barber college and went inside. Then he left to meet his Lyft driver, who brought him to his Alameda home, police say.
Campbell is set to appear in court to enter a plea on Oct. 23, records show. His wife has also been charged with accessory after the fact for allegedly harboring him after the shooting.
All three victims were hospitalized with injuries. One of them was intubated at the ICU and nearly perished from his injuries, police said. The other two didn’t provide police any assistance in identifying a suspect; one claimed he didn’t know who shot him or why, and the other flat out refused to say anything to investigators, authorities said.