San Francisco police officers shattered the glass entry door of Elaine Brown’s West Oakland affordable housing complex yesterday during a robbery investigation, according to residents, video and a copy of the search warrant. Officers spent roughly 30 to 40 minutes inside one unit, residents said, and left carrying a firearm and clothing identified in the warrant. Brown, the former Black Panther Party chairwoman who helped develop the building, said she intends to file a complaint with the Oakland Police Department.
As reported by The Oaklandside, San Francisco police were executing a search warrant for clothing allegedly worn by an 18-year-old suspect and a stolen yellow metal chain. The warrant and the reporting state that officers removed a firearm, a jacket, and a pair of shoes from the unit and detained a teenage suspect who does not live in the building. Resident-shot video included in the coverage shows an officer warning, “we’re gonna ram this door in a second,” just before officers forced their way inside.
How the building came to be
The complex, branded The Black Panther, is a 79-unit, fully affordable project that opened in 2024 and was developed by Brown’s nonprofit with partners including McCormack Baron Salazar, per the developer’s site. Elaine Brown’s history as a former Black Panther leader and the political story behind the project have been detailed in earlier reporting and local coverage, per Oakland & the World Enterprises.
Residents say police broke windows and refused to show a warrant
Neighbors and building staff told reporters that the first broken glass they saw came when police forced their way into the complex. Resident Misty Cross appears on video saying, “before I could get downstairs, they were already ramming the glass,” and Brown is quoted as saying, “the first time any windows were broken, they were broken by the police.” Brown also told local reporters that building security asked officers to show a warrant before they entered and were told no, accounts that are included in The Oaklandside’s coverage of the search…