OAKLAND, CA. (THECOUNT) — Bryan Walker, 61, and his wife, Michelle Min, 63, have been identified in multiple reports as the married couple found fatally shot Friday outside their home in the Oakland Hills near the University of California, Berkeley campus.
The shooting was reported at approximately 10:45 a.m. on the 400 block of Panoramic Way, a steep residential street near the Oakland-Berkeley border and just east of the UC Berkeley campus, according to police.
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Oakland and Berkeley officers responded after a neighbor reported hearing gunshots and found a man and woman suffering from gunshot wounds outside a residence. Officers performed life-saving measures before both victims were pronounced dead at the scene.
Oakland Police Department Assistant Chief Casey Johnson said a firearm was recovered at the scene and investigators were not looking for anyone else in connection with the shooting. He said there was no ongoing threat to the surrounding community.
Police have not officially released the victims’ names. Multiple Bay Area news organizations, citing public records, neighbors and other sources, identified the couple as Walker and Min. The home where the victims were found is associated with the couple, who were prominent figures in the Bay Area fashion industry.
Walker was the chief executive of Bryn Walker, the Berkeley-based women’s clothing company he operated with Min. The company was established in Berkeley in 1992 and continues to design and produce clothing in the San Francisco Bay Area, according to its website.
Bryn Walker says it wholesales to approximately 1,000 boutiques nationwide and operates company-owned stores in Berkeley and Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts. The brand’s national distribution gives the couple’s deaths significance beyond the immediate Oakland-Berkeley community.
Min was a clothing designer associated with the company, and the couple built Bryn Walker into a long-running fashion business centered on comfortable, sophisticated women’s clothing. In a 2011 interview, Min described her customers as independent women who did not simply follow fashion trends.
The circumstances of the shooting remained unclear. Johnson said investigators had not ruled out the possibility of a murder-suicide, but police had not determined who fired the weapon, what led to the shooting or whether one victim killed the other before dying.
A family member of Min told the New York Post that Walker had been experiencing serious financial and mental health problems and that relatives had been attempting to arrange treatment for him. The family account has not been established by police as a motive or official explanation for the shooting.
Neighbors described the normally quiet hillside area as an unusual setting for such violence. One neighbor told CBS Bay Area that residents heard two gunshots and said the shooting was shocking for a neighborhood where he had lived for more than two decades without seeing violent crime.
The shooting occurred in the Panoramic Hill area, where homes sit along narrow, winding streets overlooking the San Francisco Bay. The location is close to the UC Berkeley campus, but university officials said there was no known or ongoing threat to the campus community following the shooting.
Oakland police have taken the lead in the investigation because the residence is located on the Oakland side of the city boundary, although Berkeley officers also responded to the initial report.
Investigators had not publicly announced a motive or criminal suspect. Authorities also had not confirmed whether the deaths would ultimately be classified as a homicide, murder-suicide or another type of fatal shooting. The investigation remained active.
Oakland is the largest city in Alameda County and sits on the eastern side of San Francisco Bay, directly across the bay from San Francisco. The fatal shooting occurred in the Oakland Hills near the Berkeley city line and approximately two miles east of the UC Berkeley campus.
Google Maps: Panoramic Way, Oakland, CA
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