Norman Lewis, 19, was shot at about 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 23, 2013, in the 1500 block of 80th Avenue near Alder Street in East Oakland. He died later at a hospital. The Oakland Police Department investigated.
A 22-year-old man who was with Lewis was also shot but suffered injuries that were not life-threatening; police did not release his name.
Lewis lived in another part of Oakland, and police did not publicly identify him until more than three weeks after the shooting, on August 15. Police said they had not established a motive and had made no arrests.
Eight days after Lewis was shot, on July 31, another man, 43-year-old Ahmad Belton, who lived in the area, was shot and killed on the same block of 80th Avenue. Homicide investigators said they had not been able to determine whether the two killings were connected. Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland offered rewards of up to $10,000 in each case for information leading to the arrest of the killers.
Lewis was born on August 27, 1992, and was a month short of his 21st birthday when he died. C.P. Bannon Mortuary handled his funeral arrangements. Few other details about his life were reported, including what brought him to 80th Avenue that summer evening or who he was with.
The 1500 block of 80th Avenue is a residential street in East Oakland, a few blocks from International Boulevard. Two fatal shootings on the same block within eight days would have been impossible for the people who lived there to forget, and some of them may know whether the two were linked.
Oakland was one of the most violent large cities in California in those years. The city recorded 148 homicides in 2006 and more than 100 in most years through 2013, and its police department solved far fewer of them than the statewide average. In 2010 and 2011, Oakland police cleared only about 30 percent of the city's homicides.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Norman Lewis could be found in news archives or public records. More than 13 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. The Washington Post's homicide database, which tracked killings in Oakland from 2008 through 2017, lists the case as open with no arrest. The man who was wounded alongside Lewis survived, and anyone who knows him, or who was on 80th Avenue that evening, may know more than has ever been reported. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a car seen leaving the area or a conversation remembered, can help detectives move a case forward. Anyone with information can call the Oakland Police Department Homicide Section at (510) 238-3821 or the homicide tip line at (510) 238-7950, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers of Oakland at (510) 777-8572.
