OAKLAND — Police described the Oakland shooting as a gangland assassination, where three cars pulled up with four gunmen inside, who opened fire and killed 24-year-old Bert Brigham III.
The shooting occurred more than four years ago, and though police say they caught three suspected Funktown gang associates with guns used in the shooting the very next day, everyone has avoided charges — until now.
On Jan. 7, Alameda County prosecutors charged a 25-year-old suspect, Hanif McLeod, with being one of the four gunmen who killed Brigham. He faces charges of murder, assault with a firearm on a surviving victim and carrying a loaded gun in public, court records show.
McLeod has pleaded not guilty and is being held at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin without bail, records show. Police say surveillance footage, witness statements, ballistics evidence and cellphone records helped them identify McLeod as both a suspected shooter and getaway driver of one of the cars.
Five suspects, including McLeod, three other alleged gunmen and another suspected driver, have been identified but none of them except McLeod were charged, authorities said in court filings. Others have been arrested on unrelated charges, including gun possession. All are associates or members of the Oakland-based Funktown gang, according to Oakland police, who attribute Brigham’s July 18, 2021 killing to a feud between that gang and a rival group called “The Dubs.”
Brigham was shot around 10 p.m. on the 1900 block of Foothill Boulevard. He died four days later, authorities said. It was one of several other ambush-style shootings on or near the Foothill Boulevard corridor, all linked to the same feud.
Last year, police released stills from surveillance footage of the shooting in an attempt to generate leads.
One of the uncharged suspects in Brigham’s killing was shot and wounded in October 2021 on the 2300 block of Foothill Boulevard, police said. That same night, an Oakland rapper known as Zaygottawinn, also an alleged Funktown associate, was arrested while allegedly running from a nearby nonfatal shooting on Foothill Boulevard where 35 rounds were fired, but no one was hit, according to authorities.
Another of the uncharged suspects was shot and wounded on 12th Avenue in July 2022, authorities said. During the investigation, police say they saved video and pictures of suspected gang members posing with guns on Instagram posts and rap music videos online.