OAKLAND — Maijji Jackson chas avoided murder charges in the 13 months since he was arrested on suspicion of killing rapper Too Short’s brother here, but his legal problems have stacked up since then.
Jackson, 34, faces probation violation charges for allegedly throwing a punch at an Oakland officer who was attempting to arrest Jackson in late January. It is one of four active probation violation cases Jackson faces, in addition to a 2025 gun possession case, in the past two years, court records show.
Jackson was arrested on suspicion of murder in the January 2025 shooting death of Wayne Shaw, 64, brother of famed rapper and Oakland native Too Short, who the city named a street after in 2022. But Jackson was later released from jail without charges, and no one to date has been charged with killing Shaw, who prosecutors say was shot during a marijuana grow house burglary.
A month after Shaw’s killing, prosecutors charged Jackson with possessing weapons that police allegedly found during the investigation into a second Oakland killing, the Feb. 9, 2025 fatal shooting of 33-year-old Darnell Harvey in a house on the 2500 block of 62nd Avenue.
Since then, Jackson has racked up three more alleged probation violations. The one from last January alleges that he punched an Oakland officer who was arresting Jackson in connection with an arrest warrant in Martinez. That warrant was generated when Jackson’s DNA turned up in a stolen Jeep Cherokee that had been used to burglarize a taqueria, according to court records. But Jackson has not been charged in Contra Costa with either alleged crime.
Additionally, police have named Jackson as a suspect in the January robbery of a couple who had finished gambling at the San Pablo Lytton Casino, and were trailed to a Berkeley hotel, then robbed of their winnings. But once again, he hasn’t been charged.
Jackson served a seven-year prison term for the October 2009 fatal shooting of a 23-year-old man during a sideshow in East Oakland. Originally charged with murder, he pleaded no contest to the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter, records show.