Oscar Grant's Cousin Shot in back by Oakland Police

Man shot by Oakland police charged with four felony counts

By Kristin J. Bender and Harry Harris
Oakland Tribune

OAKLAND -- A robbery suspect who was shot in the back by Oakland police Sunday night has been charged with four felonies, authorities said.

Police on Wednesday identified Tony Ray Jones, 24, of Oakland, as the man who police shot and wounded about 11:45 p.m. Sunday in the 2000 block of 62nd Avenue.

Jones, who has a criminal record dating back nearly a decade, was in the passenger seat of van believed to have been used in a robbery of cash from a man a short while earlier.

"The cops stopped the van and (Jones) started walking away and then they let the van go, and he kept going and they shot him," said Jones' San Francisco attorney Wauqeen McCoy, adding that his client was not breaking any laws and was not involved in a robbery Sunday.

Authorities said Jones got out of the passenger side of the van and ran north on 62nd Avenue.

When an officer spotted a gun in his hand and Jones turning toward him, the officer fired twice, hitting him in the lower back.

Police later recovered a loaded semi-automatic pistol near where the shooting occurred. The driver fled and remains at large.

Jones on Wednesday was charged by the Alameda County District Attorney's office with felony second-degree armed robbery, possession of a firearm by a felon, possession of a concealed firearm in a vehicle, and carrying a loaded firearm in public. He also faces an enhancement clause for being a felon.

Jones remains hospitalized in
Advertisement
stable condition and will be taken into custody when he is medically stable, police said. But for now, he is in serious pain, his attorney said.

"He can't go to the toilet on his own. He has pain in his back, leg, stomach and lower back," said McCoy, adding that he had undergone one surgery.

Jones, who is a cousin of the late Oscar Grant, has a criminal past dating back to when he was 15 and taken to the California Youth Authority. Oscar Grant was the unarmed Hayward man who on New Year's Day 2009 was shot and killed by then-BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle while being held by police face down on a train platform.

When Jones was about 19 and an inmate in a facility in Amador County, he was convicted of gassing a peace officer, which means throwing urine or feces or a combination of both on a correctional officer, authorities said.

He remained in the youth authority for several years and was transferred to New Folsom Prison near Sacramento, where he remained until his release last month.

McCoy said he has drafted a claim against the city of Oakland, which he plans to file this week.

He said he then plans to sue the city for unreasonable and unnecessary force.