Oakland police are renewing their appeal for information in the unsolved killing of David Sakurai, the Oakland Unified School District carpenter who was shot on the King Estates campus in September 2022 and died of his injuries weeks later. The case remains open more than four years after gunfire tore through the East Oakland school complex, and investigators say they still need the public's help to bring it to a close.
According to the Oakland Police Dept.
, Sakurai was shot on September 28, 2022, in the 8200 block of Fontaine Street and died from his injuries on November 17, 2022. The department's post, shared through its official account, asks the community's assistance in solving the homicide and directs anyone with information to come forward rather than waiting for the case to resolve itself. The attack happened around 12:45 p.m. that day, when two gunmen entered the King Estates educational complex and unloaded more than 30 rounds in what police described as a targeted attack before fleeing in a vehicle driven by a third suspect, according to the
Los Angeles Times
.
Police said the shooting was gang-related and aimed at a specific individual, though innocent bystanders were caught in the gunfire. Six people were wounded in total, including two students, both at least 18, a security guard, a counselor, and two school district employees, per KTVU. Sakurai, 64, was the sole fatality. He was putting up posters in a hallway when he was struck, and he spent seven weeks hospitalized before he died.
Surveillance Footage Released, But No Arrests
Investigators released surveillance camera footage showing two suspected gunmen on campus, but no suspects or getaway driver have been publicly identified or arrested, the station's report noted. That footage remains the most concrete public lead in a case that has otherwise stalled, leaving Sakurai's family and former colleagues without answers more than four years on.
The shooting occurred at the King Estates campus, which includes Rudsdale. The property was originally acquired by OUSD in 1956 and once housed King Junior High School before becoming home to multiple alternative campuses.
A Peace Garden and a Lasting Tribute
Sakurai worked in OUSD's buildings and grounds department for 18 years. In May 2023, his colleagues and students honored him by dedicating the David Sakurai Peace Garden and a custom-built pergola on the Rudsdale campus, as detailed by The Oaklandside. The garden includes benches built and donated by Fremont High School architecture students, a quiet, tangible reminder of the man killed while doing his job in a school hallway.
Following the 2013 killing of a student, Oakland educators developed a multidisciplinary gun-violence prevention curriculum that was set to be used in at least two Oakland schools in 2022, according to The Guardian, with lessons asking students to study the Second Amendment, survey local gun violence, and analyze public policy.
Anyone with information on Sakurai's killing is urged to come forward, while the Oakland Police Dept. reminds the public to call 9-1-1 in an emergency.
