A 20-year-old Oakland man is being held without bail after prosecutors charged him with attempted murder and child abuse for allegedly opening fire on a married couple and their three children in the 1900 block of Market Street. Tahytus Johnson faces 12 felony counts stemming from the shooting, which police say happened around 1:30 p.m. on July 9 and left no one physically injured, even as the couple scrambled to push their kids to the ground to keep them out of the line of fire.
According to The Mercury News, the confrontation began roughly 30 minutes before the shooting, when the male victim argued with three women, two of whom were reportedly relatives of Johnson. Police allege Johnson then opened fire on the family, prompting the man to retrieve his own pistol during the encounter. Investigators say they identified Johnson as a suspect after matching surveillance footage from the scene to his Instagram account, @dttg.weez.
Police also told the outlet that Johnson’s younger brother had posted pictures showing Johnson wearing an outfit similar to the one worn by the shooting suspect, further tying him to the case. Johnson now faces multiple counts of assault with a firearm and unlawful firearm activity in addition to the attempted murder and child abuse charges.
No Bail Under a Narrow Constitutional Exception
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Rozlynn Silvaggio signed the order denying Johnson bail. Under California’s constitutional framework, courts may deny bail in non-capital felony cases involving violence or threats of great bodily harm only when clear and convincing evidence shows a substantial likelihood that releasing the defendant would endanger others, according to CaseMine. The state Supreme Court’s ruling in In re Kowalczyk reinforced that this constitutional provision is the only avenue for denying bail outright, barring judges from simply setting unaffordable bail as a workaround without making that explicit finding of public danger…