The family of a Richmond schoolteacher killed earlier this month during a mass shooting at an after-hours club in downtown Oakland called upon city leaders Tuesday to implement “sustainable change” that prevents similar tragedies from happening in the future.
“Latetia Bobo dedicated her life to uplifting others, and we are committed to carrying this mission forward,” said the woman’s brother-in-law, Keith Norman, during a press conference Tuesday. “Her story cannot be forgotten, nor ignored.”
Keith Norman wears a ribbon in honor of Latetia Bobo on Tuesday, March 24, 2026, in Richmond, Calif. Latetia Bobo was killed in a shooting on March 7 in downtown Oakland. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)
The statements came a day after hundreds of people gathered at two neighboring Richmond churches to remember Bobo, 33 who was among seven people shot — two of them fatally — on March 7 inside the EZ Lounge on 14th Street in downtown Oakland. Bobo was caught in the crossfire after an argument erupted at the club shortly around 3:35 a.m., long after the club was permitted to remain open.
No arrests have been made in the shooting, and a motive for it remains unclear. Law enforcement sources previously told this news outlet that the other person killed in the shooting — 25-year-old Markise Martin — was seen in a heated confrontation with another person before the gunfire erupted. Martin was shot several times, then pulled his own weapon and fired inside the club as patrons rushed for cover and scrambled for the exits.
Bobo had spent the hours before her death on a night out with friends at the monthly First Fridays street festival along Telegraph Avenue in Oakland, and she went to the bar afterwards, authorities said.
The shooting sent shockwaves through Caliber Beta Academy, where Bobo had been working with her sister as an eighth-grade language arts teacher. The school cancelled classes shortly afterward, and again on Monday when her family held a memorial service.
On Tuesday, Bobo’s mother, as well as two of her sisters and other relatives and family friends, remembered her as a “beautifully brilliant” schoolteacher who became a “successful educator, musical artist, filmmaker, screenwriter, author and entrepreneur.” Bobo’s classroom was a place where her students “can truly be themselves and express themselves,” recalled her sister, Lashonte Norman.
“Latetia Bobo had a pure and peaceful inner light, an amazing smile and a contagious laugh and a willingness to offer love and support in any way she could,” Keith Norman said.
The family was accompanied Tuesday by their attorney, Te’Reisha Graves, though she did not speak at the news conference. Keith Norman declined to comment on whether the family was planning any litigation in the aftermath of the shooting.
Keith Normal also voiced a “desire the support of city leaders to collaborate with us on ways to ensure laws and policies are effective and implemented.” He declined to outline the changes Bobo’s family wanted to see, other than “change that allows us to not have to stand before you in this type of capacity — change that allows young people to be able to be in the community and enjoy themselves and be able to come back home safely.”
Surveillance footage of the shooting posted to social media shows one person pushing another person inside the club, leading to an altercation among several of the club’s patrons. Several people then begin falling to the ground — one of whom pulls out a gun and appears to fire numerous shots indiscriminately and in rapid succession while cowering on the floor, one hand over his head. That person, whose leg appears to be wounded, then crawls out a nearby doorway.
Police said they recovered two handguns after the shooting, one inside the bar and another outside it, though they have not specified which may have been used to wound or kill whom.
Martin and one of the five people injured in the gunfire that night were both alleged Case gang members, an Oakland-based group with well-known violent rivalries around town. Martin had previously been involved in a major gang case that Alameda County prosecutors eventually dismissed following the fallout from the corruption and racist texting scandal involving Antioch police.
Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com.