Waltrice Dilliehunt was a 35-year-old mother of two, Jamarcus and D’ari, described by family as a warm, beloved presence. On the morning of August 17, 2024, she and her sister Angel returned to an apartment complex in the 1600 block of 83rd Avenue in East Oakland to change clothes before a child’s birthday party. They encountered a neighbor’s car blocking access to the parking lot, and an argument with the neighbor’s girlfriend, Rebecca Taylor, escalated into a fistfight.

According to police, the girlfriend’s partner, DeJuan Pickens, then retrieved a gun and opened fire. Waltrice and 27-year-old Tyrell Bland were killed; Angel Dilliehunt was shot four times and critically wounded but survived, and a fourth woman was injured. Pickens and Taylor fled but were arrested two days later at McNears Beach in Marin County. The Alameda County District Attorney charged Pickens with two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder and charged Taylor with being an accessory after the fact; Taylor reportedly admitted helping Pickens escape.

Pickens went to trial and testified that he shot Bland in self-defense and that Waltrice was hit by accident.

Did anyone in the East Oakland area see or hear anything that morning that could shed more light on how the shooting began?