Fernando Castillo Rodriguez, a 24-year-old Hispanic/Latino man, was shot and killed in the predawn hours of Sunday, July 27, 2025, outside an illegal after-hours nightclub in East Oakland. Police were alerted by a ShotSpotter activation around 3:45 a.m. and arrived on the 900 block of 85th Avenue near G Street, where medical personnel pronounced him dead at the scene.
The location—an underground venue operating off the books—drew a heavy police response and a large crowd in the aftermath, the street still echoing with the thud of bass as investigators cordoned off the block and began collecting shell casings.
In the days that followed, family and friends filled the sidewalk with candles and flowers for Fernando, who was remembered as a hardworking bakery manager and a gentle presence. He managed Wooden Table Baking Company and, according to relatives, lived nearby, often closing up shop and walking the familiar streets home. A cousin recalled that he had been leaving the nightclub when the shots were fired—details that sharpened the ache of a life interrupted mid-routine. Tributes described him as the heart of his family, a young man whose smile lit up rooms and who shouldered responsibilities with quiet pride.
Detectives detained dozens of people in zip ties at the scene to interview witnesses and piece together how a night out turned to chaos, and partygoers told reporters the club had been operating illegally for months. As of the reporting that week, police had not announced any arrests or identified a suspect, and the department asked the public for tips as homicide investigators pressed on. The unanswered questions—how the confrontation began, who pulled the trigger, why—hung over the memorial candles, their flames bending in the early-morning wind as the neighborhood waited for answers.
