Crowd breaks into Oakland athletic store as protesters decry verdict in train station shooting

Crowd forces way into Oakland store amid protests

OAKLAND, Calif. — Oakland police say people have broken into an athletic store near the city’s downtown as hundreds of people protest the verdict in the case of a former transit officer.

Johannes Mehserle was convicted of involuntary manslaughter on Thursday in Los Angeles in the videotaped shooting death of an unarmed black man on an Oakland train platform.

Oakland police say a crowd of people forced their way into a Foot Locker store on Thursday night and began taking items.

Before the incident, Chief Anthony Batts described the protest as mostly peaceful and said no arrests had been made, although a small incendiary device had been set off near his department’s downtown station.

He also said one person suffered a leg injury when “a small portion of the crowd” started throwing rocks and bottles.