Woman on Bicycle Fatally Shot in Berkeley

A female Berkeley bicyclist found fatally shot Tuesday night was identified Wednesday as a 50-year-old caregiver, according to news reports.

The Oakland Tribune reported that the woman who police found fatally shot near Sacramento and Derby streets late Tuesday night was 50-year-old Pam Mullins, a caregiver who lived nearby.

Police responding to a report of a downed bicyclist about 11:30 p.m. found the victim dead in the 2700 block of Sacramento, according to Berkeley police.

The Berkeley police department urges anyone with information regarding this incident to call its Homicide Unit at 510-981-5741 or our non-emergency number at 510-981-5900. Callers may remain anonymous. Anyone with anonymous information may also call Bay Area Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477.

The neighborhood has been plagued with violent crime for decades, said longtime south Berkeley resident Laura Menard.

“I have seen dead bodies…lots of them,” Menard said.

Menard has lived nearby the shooting site for 27 years and in south Berkeley for 35 years. She helped run a local neighborhood violent crime prevention group, which was active from 1999 to 2009.  Among its duties, the group patrolled the streets and fought for the abatement of drug houses.

Menard said many of her neighbors heard the gunshot and sirens the night of Tuesday’s crime, but no one she knows saw anything.

“There’s definitely been a history of drug trade directly across the street and nearby,” she said. Many of the violent crimes she has seen in the area have been drug-related, she said.