OAKLAND — A woman suspected of fatally shooting another woman during a 2021 fistfight and frying pan attack has turned herself in, only to be released from jail days later, court records show.
Dakota Williams, 22, has been facing murder charges since late 2022 when Alameda County prosecutors accused her of killing 27-year-old Shaquoia Bass-Moody. But Williams stayed out of custody until last August, when she turned herself in and was jailed.
On Sept. 3, Judge Michael Risher released her from jail, noting that Bass-Moody allegedly struck Williams’ car shortly before the shooting and lauding Williams’ decision to turn herself in.
“It was clear to me that she realized there’s a significant chance she would be remanded. Nevertheless she came in, took care of it, and was remanded,” Risher said in court. “That shows to me that she is much less of a flight risk than one would expect, given the charges.”
Risher’s order requires Williams to wear a GPS monitor and go to therapy. Prosecutors objected to her release. Williams’ lawyer said in court that she has no criminal history and he expects her to be able to find a job now that she no longer has a murder warrant hanging over her head.
Williams has pleaded not guilty.
Bass-Moody was shot and killed near the intersection of 76th Avenue and Spencer Street in East Oakland at around 8 p.m. on Feb. 7, 2021. Police say that she and a third woman, 24-year-old Anna Wade, got into an argument and then a fistfight. Eyewitnesses told police Wade got the better of the altercation and began striking Bass-Moody repeatedly, according to court records.
Video surveillance of the incident shows Bass-Moody then retrieving a frying pan and striking the window of a black Lexus SUV. The driver’s side passenger then fires shots from a pistol at Bass-Moody, fatally striking her in the neck, according to police.
When Bass-Moody swung the frying pan, Williams was attempting to drive away, her lawyer, Daniel Shriro, said in a statement to this news organization.
“Ms. Williams had not been part of the confrontation before that, but she took action because she felt she had to save her family member from imminent harm,” Shriro said.
Wade was charged with assault and accessory. Like Williams, she avoided arrest for years, until appearing in court in August 2024, and was subsequently released from jail. The following month, she pleaded no contest to assault, receiving a two-year probation term, court records show.
Court filings say Williams plans to stay in Sacramento while the case is pending. A support letter, written by Williams’ mother and filed in court, says that in the past three years she has lost family members to car crashes, homicide and suicide. Another letter, filed by Williams’ significant other, says Williams has spent past years taking care of family members in need.
“She’s a very family oriented person, she does everything in her power to make sure the people she loves are good,” Williams’ girlfriend’s letter says, further describing her as a “great person who protects the ones she loves and helps the people she loves in any possible way she can.”
Originally Published: October 14, 2025 at 10:23 AM PDT