{"id":234310,"date":"2026-03-24T16:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T16:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/234310\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T16:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T16:36:09","slug":"did-a-modified-gun-make-the-oakland-nightclub-mass-shooting-deadlier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/234310\/","title":{"rendered":"Did a modified gun make the Oakland nightclub mass shooting deadlier?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two people were killed and five others were wounded in a mass shooting<\/a> inside EZ\u2019s Lounge, a downtown Oakland nightclub, earlier this month.<\/p>\n

Now, a recently surfaced video is raising questions about whether one of the weapons used in the shooting had been modified in a manner that made it more lethal.<\/p>\n

A 45-second clip posted on X<\/a> the day after the March 7 shooting shows surveillance footage from inside the club. In the video, from a user named \u201cWest Coast Gang Wars,\u201d a fight between at least two men escalates in a narrow corridor crowded with people. About 27 seconds in, both appear to draw guns and open fire, sending bystanders scrambling.<\/p>\n

Over the next four seconds, one of the men, crouched in a fetal position on the floor, appears to fire multiple rounds in succession \u2014 far faster than a typical semi-automatic pistol is capable of. The spray of gunfire appears to be aimlessly directed toward the crowd that ran away.<\/p>\n

The footage suggests the handgun may have been modified to fire automatically, allowing it to discharge multiple rounds with a single pull of the trigger. Such weapons are illegal under federal law and in California.<\/p>\n

Lt. Gabriel Urquiza, who oversees the Oakland Police Department\u2019s real-time operations center, confirmed that the social media clip depicts the March 7 shooting and appears to show a modified gun.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty clear that it was a fully automatic weapon,\u201d Urquiza said.<\/p>\n

Authorities have not confirmed whether the shooter shown in the video is among the seven victims. An OPD spokesperson said the department\u2019s investigation is ongoing.<\/p>\n

Still, the footage raises questions about how widely such modified firearms are circulating in Oakland \u2014 and whether their use increases the risk of mass casualties.<\/p>\n

Converting a semi-automatic pistol to a fully automatic weapon is relatively simple, experts say
\n\"\"Auto sears, also known as machine gun conversion devices, can be easily installed on semi-automatic Glock pistols. Credit: AP Photo\/Alex Brandon<\/p>\n

One of the most common methods for converting a semi-automatic pistol into a fully automatic weapon involves an automatic sear<\/a>, a small plastic or metal device that prevents the trigger mechanism from resetting after each shot. That means a single pull or hold of the trigger can empty an entire magazine of bullets in just a few seconds.<\/p>\n

Auto sears are relatively easy to install on Glock-style pistols, according to Urquiza. They\u2019re also inexpensive and easy to obtain<\/a> \u2014 they can be made at home using a 3D printer or purchased online, sometimes for less than $20, from overseas manufacturers or on the black market. On the street, sears are usually called \u201cswitches\u201d or \u201cchips.\u201d Law enforcement often refers to them as machine gun conversion devices, or MCDs.<\/p>\n

Adam Skaggs, chief counsel and vice president at Giffords Law Center, a national law firm focused on gun policy, said his organization has worked with states like Minnesota<\/a> to sue Glock, the leading manufacturer of semi-automatic pistols, for \u201cdesigning, manufacturing, and selling products that are far and away the easiest pistols to illegally convert into machine guns.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a lawsuit filed earlier this month<\/a>, the city of Philadelphia, represented by Giffords, accused Glock of promoting illegal conversion devices. The complaint alleges that<\/a> the manufacturer used social media to advertise \u201chow \u2018fun\u2019 it is to possess a fully automatic Glock\u201d and targeted teens and young men in its marketing campaigns.<\/p>\n

\u201cOftentimes, when we see innocent bystanders killed in incidents, it turns out that these fully automatic pistols were being used,\u201d Skaggs said. \u201cIf you\u2019re at an event where there\u2019s a big crowd, a fight breaks out, and somebody pulls out a gun like that \u2026 it\u2019s going to increase the likelihood that a bystander is killed, that more people will get shot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Glock did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Sgt. Ryan Swetavage, a firearms expert with the Alameda County Sheriff\u2019s Office and leader of the agency\u2019s SWAT team, said machine gun conversion devices aren\u2019t intended to improve a shooter\u2019s accuracy; rather, they \u201cincrease the rate of fire.\u201d (The sheriff\u2019s office is not handling the investigation into the Oakland nightclub shooting.)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a little unsettling because we don\u2019t have that same capability,\u201d said Swetavage. \u201cEven on our SWAT team, we don\u2019t carry automatic firearms, but there\u2019s a good reason for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fully automatic weapons are heavily regulated and effectively illegal<\/a> for most people to own due to their increased potential to injure and kill people. Neither OPD nor the sheriff\u2019s office issues fully automatic weapons to officers.<\/p>\n

In fact, experts say auto sears may reduce a shooter\u2019s accuracy because of the increased recoil, the force of a shot that pushes a pistol backward and upward in a shooter\u2019s hand. Urquiza said that may help explain the number of victims in the nightclub shooting.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this particular situation, the lethality was increased because of the proximity and the fact that there was a group of people in an enclosed space,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

More dangerous firearms are showing up in Oakland cases
\n\"\"The Oakland Police Department has increasingly recovered more sophisticated firearms from crime scenes over the past decade. Credit: Amir Aziz\/The Oaklandside<\/p>\n

Throughout his 11 years at OPD, Urquiza said the quality of firearms officers have recovered from crime scenes has evolved drastically.<\/p>\n

Roughly a decade ago, he said, officers sometimes encountered makeshift weapons assembled with tape. Newer models, such as later-generation Glock pistols, were \u201cextremely rare.\u201d<\/p>\n

That began to change around 2020, when police started recovering more modern firearms, often equipped with extended magazines and, in some cases, conversion devices.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were seeing juveniles armed with high-quality, relatively new Glock firearms with extended magazines,\u201d Urquiza said. \u201cThey just became more common.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most firearms recovered by OPD from crime scenes are semi-automatic, meaning they fire one bullet at a time when the trigger is pulled. However, according to Urquiza, fully automatic weapons aren\u2019t rare in Oakland. \u201cThey\u2019re not an uncommon thing to find on the street,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The sheriff\u2019s office has observed similar trends, though Swetavage said the prevalence of auto sears may have declined in recent years, possibly due to increased regulation and litigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of the efforts of some of our federal law enforcement partners, they\u2019re a little bit more challenging to acquire,\u201d Swetavage said.<\/p>\n

Many firearms used in crimes in Oakland are stolen or trafficked from other states with less restrictive gun laws. Some have been traced as far away as Atlanta, Urquiza said.<\/p>\n

Others are so-called \u201cghost guns,\u201d privately assembled firearms without serial numbers, which are difficult or impossible to trace.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very, very rare to recover a firearm from a crime that\u2019s actually registered to that person who used it,\u201d Urquiza said.<\/p>\n

OPD has not made any arrests in connection with the EZ\u2019s Lounge shooting. Authorities identified the two deaths as 33-year-old San Pablo teacher<\/a> Latetia Bobo and 25-year-old Markise Martin<\/a>. The East Bay Times reported that<\/a> the five survivors of the shooting \u201care expected to live.\u201d<\/p>\n

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