A felon who opened fire in an Oakland street after being arrested with loaded firearms twice in the preceding six months was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment in federal court today.
Rosevelt Jones, 32, shot at rivals in September 2023 on the 1600 block of 8th Street. Shotspotter detected 14 rounds fired during the incident and police found nearby homes and cars hit by gunfire.
He was arrested, again, by federal and state law enforcement in November 2023 with a Glock 29 equipped with an extended magazine. As a consequence he earlier pleaded guilty to ‘being a felon in possession of a firearm’.
“I expressed some reservations about sentencing you without a full pre-sentence report,” said a dubious U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers this morning in Oakland federal courthouse. “Your attorney advised and argued that I should move forward in any event given your state court proceedings…I’m still not clear in my mind that this is the best course of action.”
The sentence was recommended to the court in a joint sentencing memorandum agreed by both Jones’ attorney and a federal prosecutor. The judge was assured that Jones “still faces additional time” in Alameda county where he faces felony firearms charges including ‘shooting at an inhabited dwelling.”
Jones’ rap sheet includes three firearms possession convictions in addition to his previously being a ward of the court following a juvenile adjudication.
Officers from Oakland’s Housing Authority Police Department were notified of gunfire via Shotspotter on September 6 2023 at 1650 8th Street. The ‘gunshot detection’ system reported that 14 rounds had been fired. On arrival, police found shell casings on the ground and bullet holes in nearby cars and residences.
Surveillance footage showed Jones in the vicinity of 8th and Campbell throughout the evening. Just after 11:00pm a four door sedan drove by and a passenger left the vehicle – at which point Jones is seen pulling a gun from his pants pocket and opening fire at the car. He was joined by a second shooter.
All involved apparently escaped.
In March 2023 Jones barricaded himself in a Happy Times liquor store, climbed on its roof, and then hurled a loaded handgun 125 feet into the back yard of a nearby home before jumping off and running away from police. That incident arose when an on-duty Oakland police officer entered the store with the intent of buying a beverage and saw that fellow-patron Jones appeared to be armed.
Two months later he threw another gun over another fence into another yard while being arrested on the same block.
Jones was most-recently detained by federal and state law enforcement in November 2023 in the same vicinity of the shooting. Police found a Glock 29 equipped with an extended magazine in the defendant’s silver Acura.
“I expressed some reservations about sentencing you without a full pre-sentence report,” said a doubtful U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez-Rogers this morning in courtroom one of Oakland federal courthouse. “Your attorney advised and argued that I should move forward in any event given your state court proceedings…I’m still not clear in my mind that this is the best course of action.”
She nevertheless endorsed the joint sentencing recommendation and handed down a term of 18 months’ imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised release.
“For the rest of your life you shall not own or possess or have access to a firearm, ammunition, destructive device or dangerous weapon,” the judge told Jones.
“It is not longer your right to have them,” she emphasized. “One of the number one violations that I get is ‘felon in possession’…you will go back and be incarcerated again. Do you understand that?”
Jones will next appear on April 29 in Department 11 of Rene Davidson County Courthouse for further proceedings in his state cases.
He remains in custody in Santa Rita Jail.
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