At 3 a.m., a gunman waited behind an Oakland lingerie store on 'The Blade', police say. The operator was shot dead minutes later

"OAKLAND -At 3:15 a.m. on Dec. 19, long after most local business owners had shuttered their doors, two brothers left the back of their lingerie store in a neighborhood known for sex trafficking and headed to their car in an adjacent alleyway. That's when the gunman struck, according to police, firing multiple shots into a 2016 Toyota Prius and striking both men inside. One died before EMTs could take him to a hospital. His brother was struck in the arm but survived, authorities said."

"Both victims operated a store on the 1600 block of International Boulevard that sold snacks and drinks, but also see-through lingerie, fishnets, high-heeled faux leather boots, and cheap, shiny jewelry, according to its Instagram and Yelp pages. Outside the store, sex workers are known to walk the streets at all hours of the day, in a section of International Boulevard known as "The Blade" that spans more than a mile and is arguably the biggest open air sex market in the Bay Area."

"On Yelp, several one-star reviewers derided it as a "pro human trafficking business" and a store with "no shame," with one April 2024 reviewer writing that a customer at a business next-door had been wounded in a drive-by shooting on the block. The shop's Oakland-issued business license expired on New Year's Eve, 12 days after Hedayet was killed, and its Google page lists it as "permanently closed.""

At 3:15 a.m. on Dec. 19, a gunman fired multiple shots into a 2016 Toyota Prius in an alley behind a lingerie store on the 1600 block of International Boulevard in Oakland. Two brothers who operated the store were struck; 28-year-old Zinatullah Hedayet died and his brother survived with an arm wound. The shooter reportedly waited more than 10 minutes on Solano Way and was seen fleeing to a vehicle; police say one gunman was observed but up to three participants may have been involved. The store sold lingerie and related items and operated in a section known as "The Blade." No charges have been filed.

Read at The Mercury News