OAKLAND — Just a half-hour before he allegedly shot and killed a man inside a local after-hours lounge, 38-year-old Jarvis Toussaint pulled up outside in a BMW, golden chains around his neck, wearing a baseball cap that would later tie him to the shooting, according to court records.
It was a festive atmosphere inside the EZ Lounge on 14th Street, with music, drinks, and dozens of attendees packing the place after a First Fridays event hours before. But at 3:31 a.m., the mood seemed to shift; Toussaint removed his white San Francisco Giants hat, pulled a balaclava mask over his face, and put the cap back on, according to court records.
Less than a minute later, the club would erupt in a shootout between Toussaint and 25-year-old Markise Martin, resulting in the deaths of Martin and 33-year-old Latetia “Teesh” Bobo and nonfatal gunshot wounds to five people. The criminal complaint against Toussaint, who faces ammunition possession charges in federal court, now gives the public its clearest look at the shooting yet, relying on a frame-by-frame review of interior surveillance cameras that captured the entire incident.
The complaint says that within 30 seconds of Toussaint pulling a mask over his face, Martin began to gesture towards him, sparking a confrontation that quickly escalated into gunfire. It says Martin briefly turned away from Toussaint as the two men approached one another, then turned to face him with his right arm tucked under his arm, hidden from Toussaint’s view, according to prosecutors.
Martin then shoved Toussaint with his left arm. The 38-year-old — who had served time in prison for allegedly plotting to rob a cocaine dealer’s home — would respond by pulling a semi-automatic pistol and shooting Martin seven times, then fleeing to a complimentary BMW service vehicle he’d received from an autobody shop, according to court records.
Toussaint was outgunned that night, but still escaped injury.
As Martin fell to the ground, mortally wounded from the gunfire, he pulled a Glock pistol with a 22-round magazine, which had been illegally modified to fire fully automatic. He sprayed “sustained bursts” of gunfire, emptying the entire 22-round magazine in Martin’s direction, missing him but killing Bobo as she and others ran for cover, authorities said.
Bobo, an artist and San Pablo middle school teacher, had come to the lounge after hanging out in downtown Oakland with friends. She had nothing to do with the confrontation and there’s no indication she knew either man, according to police. Her death agonized the community around Caliber Beta Academy, where she taught 8th graders.
Martin attempted to drag himself out of the club but succumbed to his injuries inside the building, according to the criminal complaint. Oakland police were inside the lounge by 3:35 a.m., less than three minutes after the first shots were fired, but weren’t able to resuscitate Martin or Bobo. Five others who suffered gunshot wounds survived.
The police response would reveal that at least one other person brought a gun to the EZ Lounge that night; Outside, officers noticed a man with a “gun shaped bulge” in his pants and attempted to detain him. He fled, but dropped a pistol with a 22-round magazine. Ballistics tests revealed it didn’t match either weapon fired inside, authorities said.
As for Toussaint, while he got away from the club unscathed, his Giants hat was left behind. A DNA test would later confirm he was its owner, according to the criminal complaint. The gun allegedly used by Toussaint has not been recovered.
Neither the surveillance nor any eyewitness indicated there were any other shooters besides Martin or Toussaint, the complaint says. The Alameda County District Attorney’s office declined to charge Toussaint with murder or manslaughter, not confident they’d be able to overcome a self-defense legal theory, authorities said.
Toussaint, in custody over the federal case, isn’t due in court again until late July. He’s legally barred from having guns or ammunition due to multiple prior felony convictions, including a 2013 federal case that involved Toussaint and others plotting to rob a cocaine stash house. But Toussaint’s attorney in that case described it as an overbearing sting operation concocted by law enforcement, after they turned a “successful, widely-respected Oakland drug dealer” into an ATF snitch, who came to Toussaint with the proposed robbery plot.
In 2021, he was convicted of gun possession, but his lawyer said he only had the gun due to his work as a youth mentor. A defense sentencing memo said Toussaint took the firearm from a youngster because Toussaint “was worried the young man was going to shoot someone.”
Toussaint faces up to 15 years in federal prison if convicted. He has pleaded not guilty.