Sir Jewel Brooks, age 23, a Black male, was shot in broad daylight on May 23, 2025, in East Oakland. Around 1:15 p.m., officers responded to reports of multiple gunshots near the intersection of 90th Avenue and International Boulevard and found Sir Jewel Brooks, age 23, male, suffering from at least one gunshot wound; he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The killing occurred on the 1400 block of 90th Avenue, a stretch lined with small businesses and homes where afternoon traffic and pedestrians abruptly gave way to police tape and shell casings. Hours later, candles and hand-written notes began to appear as word spread that the victim was Sir Jewel Brooks, age 23, male.
In the days that followed, detectives canvassed the neighborhood for surveillance video and witnesses while the block’s routine—buses sighing to a stop, corner stores unlocking for the evening rush—resumed around a visible absence. Early in the investigation, police detained a person of interest, but that individual was released without charges as the case shifted and evidence was reevaluated. Through it all, the name in the case files remained the same: Sir Jewel Brooks, age 23, male.
A breakthrough came in June. On June 11, 2025, Oakland police arrested Deshaun Mays in connection with the killing of Sir Jewel Brooks, age 23, male. Two days later, authorities publicly announced the arrest, stating that it was tied directly to the May 23 homicide on the 1400 block of 90th Avenue. Reporting that followed described the shooting as unfolding during a brawl and noted that prosecutors charged Mays, 43, with murder along with firearm-related offenses, including possession of a firearm and ammunition by a felon. The arrest did not close the book on the case—investigators continued to seek additional witnesses and evidence—but it reframed the narrative from an anonymous daylight shooting to a case with a named suspect moving through the courts.
