OAKLAND, Calif. – Authorities say a man who was fatally shot last week at a popular Oakland flea market was killed during a dispute over competing sales of fake identification cards.
Victim identified
What we know:
The victim was identified as Jorge Alberto Rivas Rodriguez. Police said the suspected gunman, an uncle of Rodriguez’s brother-in-law, remains at large.
The shooting occurred just before noon Jan. 9 in the 5400 block of Coliseum Way.
Rodriguez was found fatally shot in the parking lot of the Oakland Coliseum Swap Meet, one of the Bay Area’s busiest flea markets, authorities said.
Dispute over fake IDs
Dig deeper:
Investigators said Rodriguez was shot during a dispute related to the sale of fake IDs.
At the time of the shooting, vendors were selling goods to crowds of shoppers.
“He was inside the parking lot of the flea market here,” said Al Perales, who works at a nearby tire shop. “Then obviously everyone started to scatter.”
Crime scene
Local perspective:
Aerial footage showed part of the parking lot cordoned off with yellow police tape as officers surrounded a parked Tesla Cybertruck.
The swap meet is open seven days a week and draws vendors selling a wide range of merchandise. Authorities have said the area has also attracted people selling stolen goods tied to organized retail theft.
“The parking lot was pretty full. There were quite a few cars — like a weekend,” Perales said.
His killing marked Oakland’s sixth homicide of 2026, though city leaders have pointed to a decline in violent crime.Â
“Crime in Oakland isn’t going down, it’s going up,” Perales said. “The numbers don’t lie.”
The Source: This story was written from information provided by the Oakland Police Department along with previous reporting.