Man shot near Oakland BART station is identified

A man killed in an officer-involved shooting near an Oakland Bay Area Rapid Transit station was identified Sunday as Fred Collins, 48, of Oakland.

The shooting occurred Saturday morning after Oakland police received reports of a man armed with two knives walking near the Fruitvale BART station. Both Oakland and BART officers chased the man for several blocks, unsuccessfully attempting to Taser him after he allegedly charged at an officer. The group then opened fire, killing him. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Pursuing officers said Collins, who was black, shouted, “Shoot me, shoot me,” according to Oakland police spokesman  Jeff Thomason.

The shooting occurred about a week after a Los Angeles jury convicted former BART Officer Johannes Mehserle of involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man, Oscar J. Grant III, on the Fruitvale BART station platform on New Year's Day last year. The verdict in that shooting sparked protests and looting. 

Oakland police homicide and internal affairs investigators, BART police internal affairs investigators and the Alameda County district attorney’s office are investigating Saturday’s shooting. There were no reports of unrest, Thomason said.

-- Carla Rivera