OAKLAND — A local resident has been charged with attempting to burn down the convenience store where his brother was killed, after learning that employees were showing off surveillance footage of the fatal shooting to customers, authorities said.
Marcus Freeman, 38, allegedly attempted to burn down a store on the 3000 block of San Pablo Avenue in Oakland twice within a week, including the first March 2 attempt when police say he poured an accelerant from a five-gallon canister and lit a flame. The second attempt, on March 9, caused “significant” damage and occurred when an employee was inside the store, police said in court filings.
“Marcus stop it is not going to do nothing,” someone could be heard yelling during the March 2 incident, according to police.
Authorities allege that the motive for both attempts were related to the March 1 killing of 35-year-old Matthew Pierce, Freeman’s brother, who was shot at the same location. While the store’s workers refused to share surveillance footage of the killing with police, they allegedly started showing it to customers, which was interpreted by Pierce’s family as disrespect to the dead, authorities said.
Freeman, who is free after posting $250,000 bail, was charged with two felony counts of attempted arson, court records show. He pleaded not guilty and was ordered to stay away from the store as a condition of his release.
Pierce’s killing remains unsolved. Police said at the time he was shot by another person during a confrontation.
FBI officials are offering a $10,000 for information leading to the location of Heaven Desiree McGee, who was last seen in Stockton on Jan. 20. She has ties to Oakland and San Jose. (Courtesy of FBI)
Authorities say that Freeman was also investigated late last year as a person of interest in the still-unsolved January 2025 disappearance of Heaven McGee, who was believed to be a victim of human trafficking at the time. McGee, 22, was known to frequent Oakland but was last seen in Stockton, according to police.
Last year, the FBI offered a $10,000 reward for information about McGee’s disappearance.
No one has been charged in McGee’s disappearance. Police have two leading theories about what may have happened to her: She was either taken by a prospective sex trafficking client, or she was harmed or abducted by an exploiter. Freeman’s vehicle was seen leaving Oakland and driving to Stockton around the time of her disappearance, police said in court filings, which is one of the reasons he was investigated.
A month before she disappeared, McGee called police frantic and said her pimp was attempting to fight her, then provided the name “Marcus Freeman,” who also went by the nickname “New Money,” authorities said. They later talked to another suspected sex worker who said that McGee and Freeman had a falling out in late 2024.
But McGee had also previously been trafficked by a 26-year-old suspected Oakland gang leader, who was also known to frequent Stockton, and who McGee allegedly contacted shortly before her disappearance, authorities said. Neither man was ever arrested or charged, court records show.
In late 2025, Oakland investigators took the unusual step of surveilling Freeman in San Francisco, where he appeared in court for a misdemeanor federal hit-and-run case, court records show. Federal prosecutors have moved to violate the terms of his supervised release in that case because of the alleged arson, according to court filings.
In November 2025, Freeman’s mother filed a support letter in the federal case, stating her son was doing his best in life after losing a longtime career when the company he worked for filed for bankruptcy.
“Today Marcus has worked hard to be accountable, dealing with situations by not getting into any trouble, and has worked out a reasonable solution where he tends to his son’s daily needs, in and out of school, and his daily sports activities, his son is involved in,” the letter says. “He also registered for school to further his trade in agriculture, which was the field he worked in.”
Anyone with information on Pierce’s killing can contact Oakland police at 510-238-3821 or 510-238-7950. Tipsters with knowledge of McGee’s disappearance can contact authorities at 510-238-3641.