"Baby Iraq" is one name..."A devil's playground" is another.

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Oakland's War Zone

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Bullets fly and bodies fall on MacArthur Boulevard, one of the city's most dangerous areas.

Charles Burress, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, September 28, 2008


"Baby Iraq" is one name they give it. "A devil's playground" is another.

It's a forlorn spot on MacArthur Boulevard in East Oakland where fresh grief erupts with each new burst of bullets from unknown guns.

Four young people have been slain on MacArthur near 83rd Avenue since April, including 18-year-old Kennah Wilson and the unborn child she was carrying, who lived for a short time after Wilson was shot. At least seven other people have been wounded. No arrests have been made.

This location on MacArthur, west of Interstate 580 and about a mile northwest of the Oakland Zoo, may be the most concentrated killing zone in a city where killing is common. Oakland, ranked America's fourth-most-dangerous city in a CQ Press study released in November, has seen 105 homicides so far this year, up from 104 at the same time last year.

Police blame the MacArthur Boulevard bloodshed on a pervasive problem - young men who fall into drug dealing and violence. In response to the killings, city officials recently made quelling violence at the location a priority, combining a stepped-up police response with outreach and job-finding assistance for youths.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/27/MNQI12V9LV.DTL&tsp=1