A 20-year-old Oakland man is being held without bail after prosecutors charged him with attempted murder and child abuse for allegedly opening fire on a married couple and their three children in the 1900 block of Market Street. Tahytus Johnson faces 12 felony counts stemming from the shooting, which police say happened around 1:30 p.m. on July 9 and left no one physically injured, even as the couple scrambled to push their kids to the ground to keep them out of the line of fire.
According to The Mercury News, the confrontation began roughly 30 minutes before the shooting, when the male victim argued with three women, two of whom were reportedly relatives of Johnson. Police allege Johnson then opened fire on the family, prompting the man to retrieve his own pistol during the encounter. Investigators say they identified Johnson as a suspect after matching surveillance footage from the scene to his Instagram account, @dttg.weez.
Police also told the outlet that Johnson's younger brother had posted pictures showing Johnson wearing an outfit similar to the one worn by the shooting suspect, further tying him to the case. Johnson now faces multiple counts of assault with a firearm and unlawful firearm activity in addition to the attempted murder and child abuse charges.
No Bail Under a Narrow Constitutional Exception
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Rozlynn Silvaggio signed the order denying Johnson bail. Under California's constitutional framework, courts may deny bail in non-capital felony cases involving violence or threats of great bodily harm only when clear and convincing evidence shows a substantial likelihood that releasing the defendant would endanger others, according to CaseMine. The state Supreme Court's ruling in In re Kowalczyk reinforced that this constitutional provision is the only avenue for denying bail outright, barring judges from simply setting unaffordable bail as a workaround without making that explicit finding of public danger.
Silvaggio was appointed to the Alameda County Superior Court bench by Governor Gavin Newsom in September 2024, following two decades as a public defender across Alameda, Contra Costa, Los Angeles, and San Francisco counties, per the Alameda County Bar Association. She presides in Department 108 at the Wiley Manuel Courthouse in downtown Oakland, which handles misdemeanor and felony arraignments and pretrial hearings for the county, according to Love Thy Lawyer.
If convicted of attempted first-degree murder, Johnson could face life imprisonment with the possibility of parole under California Penal Code Sections 664 and 187, which require prosecutors to prove both specific intent to kill and a direct step toward completing the killing, per the Goldstein Law Group. The child abuse counts fall under Penal Code Section 273a(a), which applies whenever someone willfully places a minor in a situation likely to cause great bodily harm or death — regardless of whether the children were actually struck, according to Eisner Gorin LLP. That statute carries a potential sentence of two, four, or six years in state prison per count.
A Brother Already Behind Bars
Johnson's older brother, 23-year-old Taurus Johnson, was already in custody when Tahytus Johnson was arrested. Taurus Johnson is being held on $150,000 bail and faces robbery charges; he was wanted for cutting off his GPS ankle monitor while on probation for accessory to robbery, and Alameda County Sheriff records show he was arrested on February 21 for a felony parole violation. He was also allegedly identified as a robbery suspect through pictures posted to his Instagram account, @bodygzzz.dem, after allegedly snatching a purse from a woman in December.
Authorities say both brothers were identified as members of a local rap group whose members use “NBS” — short for “Nobody Safe” — in their stage names. Oakland police allege Taurus Johnson is part of an Oakland gang operating under that same moniker. Court appellate records show Taurus Johnson was previously identified by Oakland police as a suspect in a September 2021 barbershop robbery after an officer recognized him from prior arrests, music videos, personal contacts, and social media postings, according to CaseMine — a pattern of using social media to track alleged group members that mirrors the Instagram identification used in the July shooting investigation.
Police also said Tahytus Johnson had previously been arrested on suspicion of murder as a juvenile, though he was never charged in that case. It remains unclear whether prosecutors intend to pursue formal gang or firearm sentencing enhancements against either brother, and the current plea status of both men, along with the identity of Tahytus Johnson's defense counsel, has not been reported.
Part of a Broader Citywide Crackdown
The case surfaces amid Oakland's renewed Ceasefire strategy, which targets high-risk gangs and street groups believed to be driving local gun violence. That initiative was credited with a 32% drop in homicides and a 33% drop in nonfatal shootings between 2023 and 2024, according to The Oaklandside. Oakland Police Department crime metrics later in 2025 showed homicides down 28% and nonfatal shootings down 25% year-to-date, following expanded city investment in focused deterrence programs and community violence interrupters, per reporting from The Oaklandside.
