Dionte Montrell Freeman, 18, of Oakland, known to his family as "Tay Tay," was shot at about 8:25 p.m. on Monday, June 20, 2011, in a drive-by shooting in the 800 block of 32nd Street in West Oakland, near the home on 33rd Street where he lived with his grandfather. He was taken to a hospital and died at 9:12 p.m. The Oakland Police Department investigated.
Three other people were wounded in the shooting: a 21-year-old pregnant woman and two 18-year-old men, all from Oakland.
All three survived. According to police, the victims got themselves to hospitals after the gunfire. Police said the motive was unknown, and no one was arrested.
Freeman had lived with his grandfather, Louis J. Vlorie, for more than five years. He did not have a job, his cousin said, because he wanted to put all of his time into earning his high school diploma through independent study classes, and he was scheduled to graduate that January. "He couldn't wait to graduate and walk the stage," his cousin Shavya Picou said. "He was ready to do something with his life." Every morning his grandfather gave him money for the day. On the last morning, it was $4. "That was the only thing he asked of me," Vlorie said.
After the shooting, his backpack still lay on his bed, his walls covered with photos of family and friends, phone numbers and notes to himself, and a poster with a poem titled "I Am Teachable." His small dog, Cash, paced the room waiting for him. A friend and neighbor, Gabriel Tufts, said, "This kid wasn't supposed to die like this." Freeman volunteered at the West Oakland YMCA and attended the House of Restoration church. His mother, Yolanda Vlorie, later founded the Dionte Freeman Foundation in Oakland in his memory.
The area around 32nd and 33rd streets in West Oakland was known to many as "Ghost Town." His family said Freeman did not fit the stereotype of the neighborhood's young men.
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 Dionte Freeman could be found in news archives or public records. More than 15 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 three people wounded with him, and anyone who saw the car on 32nd Street that night, may know more than has ever been made public. 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.
