An innocent 55-year-old father of five was gunned down while waiting at a bus stop in Oakland, California in August 2020, and police vowed at that time that the heinous murder would not go unsolved.
Police appear to have finally caught their suspect as 38-year-old Ronald McGregor has been arrested and charged with the 2020 shooting death of Darius Brazell, The Mercury News reported.
McGregor was taken into custody on June 27 in relation to the murder of Brazell, but he pleaded not guilty and was ordered held without bail.
Justice finally arrives
Local crime reporter Henry K. Lee had tweeted the news at the time of the tragic shooting death of Brazell in August 2020 at a bus stop that ironically was located not far from the city’s Black Lives Matter memorial, and made note of the promise by police that they would bring the shooter to justice.
Indeed, local Fox affiliate KTVU had reported at that time on a vigil in honor of Brazell’s life and quoted Oakland Police Captain Chris Bolton as saying, “It was my officers who looked for the suspect and continue to look for the suspect today. And it will be Oakland police officers who bring the suspect to justice.”
The reporter added a belated follow-up to those 2020 tweets on Saturday with one that announced the arrest and charging of McGregor for Brazell’s death.
UPDATE: Ronald McGregor, 38, arrested by @oaklandpoliceca, charged by @AlamedaCountyDA w/murder in 2020 shooting death of Darius Brazell, 55, (pic) at @rideact bus stop at Lakeshore & Mandana pic.twitter.com/r6WGUWj5dY
— Henry K. Lee (@henrykleeKTVU) July 3, 2022
Should not have been out on the streets
According to the Times, McGregor had been identified by way of footage from surveillance cameras as well as DNA left on clothing found at the scene. At this time, police still have not learned of or disclosed a motive for the shooting.
The outlet noted that McGregor “has a long criminal history with multiple convictions for gun possession.”
McGregor should have been in prison at the time of Brazell’s murder as the career criminal had been sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2013 for being a felon in possession of a stolen handgun.
However, an appeals court tossed out that sentence after it was determined that, per federal guidelines, a prior rape conviction for McGregor did not warrant a “violent designation” to enhance his sentence on the illegal gun charge.
Instead, he was sentenced to six years and eight months, was released to a shelter in 2017, then served an additional three months in prison in 2018 after he escaped from the shelter, but apparently was back out on the streets to commit more crimes after that.
