Rene Cabrera, 26, of East Palo Alto, was shot multiple times at about 7:20 p.m. on Saturday, March 11, 2017, in the 2200 block of Dashwood Avenue in East Oakland, near Arroyo Viejo Park and the Second Mt. Nebo Missionary Baptist Church. He was taken to a hospital and died a short time later. The Oakland Police Department investigated.
Officers responded to reports of a shooting and found Cabrera suffering from several gunshot wounds a few minutes after shots were heard in the area.
Police did not identify him publicly until March 20, more than a week later. At first they released no information about a suspect or a motive.
A month after the killing, investigators said they believed Cabrera had been lured to Oakland. Police said they had information that he came to the city to make a purchase, possibly of jewelry, and was instead shot and robbed of personal items. No vehicle linked to him was found near the scene, which led police to believe he may have come to Oakland with whoever killed him. Sgt. Omar Daza-Quiroz said investigators could not find any ties Cabrera had to Oakland; he spent most of his time in East Palo Alto and Menlo Park.
Cabrera was the father of a 6-year-old daughter. Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland offered a reward of up to $15,000 for information leading to the arrest of his killer.
Dashwood Avenue is a quiet residential street in East Oakland, about 30 miles from Cabrera's home on the Peninsula. Because he had no known ties to the area and no car of his own was found, the person he came to meet would have had to arrange the purchase with him beforehand.
Oakland's killings had fallen from their peak earlier in the decade, when the city recorded 131 homicides in 2012, but the city still had one of the highest homicide rates in California, and its police department has long solved a smaller share of killings than the statewide average.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Rene Cabrera could be found in news archives or public records. More than 9 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. Anyone who knows who Cabrera arranged to meet that Saturday, or who was offering jewelry for sale to him, may hold the answer to this case. 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.
