Roosevelt Jones Jr., 33, died on April 19, 2025, after being shot during an attempted robbery in Oakland’s Uptown district. The shooting occurred shortly after midnight on the 500 block of 18th Street when Jones and his cousin, Jashawndre Upshaw, allegedly approached a Richmond resident and tried to rob him of a diamond necklace. Authorities say Jones threw the man to the pavement, and the intended victim, who was armed, shot Jones multiple times in what police described as lawful self-defense.

Upshaw drove his mortally wounded cousin to a hospital emergency room, but Jones died from his injuries. Investigators say surveillance footage showed a second armed man alongside Jones during the robbery attempt wearing the same outfit Upshaw had on at the hospital. Police arrested Upshaw two days after the shooting and Alameda County prosecutors charged him with murder, attempted robbery, and gun possession by a felon, invoking California’s provocative act doctrine to charge an accomplice for a death caused by a victim’s defensive use of lethal force. Maurice Herron was also investigated and later charged only with firearm possession after ankle monitor data placed him at the scene.

No one else has been publicly identified as responsible for Jones’s death in these reports. Did anyone see or have information about the early-morning activity on the 500 block of 18th Street that night?