OAKLAND -- Gunfire turned the joy of an Oakland birthday celebration into a homicide crime scene over the weekend as the city's escalating murder rate reached 39.

As has been the case in many of the homicides, the victims of the weekend slayings were both teenagers.

Soultan Fayad, a 17-year-old from Vallejo, had gone with some relatives to the birthday party for a teenage girl at MacArthur Hall in the 4500 block of MacArthur Boulevard.

Police said he was outside the hall about 8:40 p.m., possibly to smoke a cigarette, when he was confronted by a group of men. There was a brief confrontation and then deadly gunfire. He died at Highland Hospital at 9:15 p.m.

Bricila Estrada, 15, returned to the hall on Sunday to pick up the cake she never got to cut during her Quincinera celebration. She told KTVU she doesn't know the victim, or the shooter.

Her mother, Martha, said she heard gunshots fired from outside the front door of the hall.

"They shot him, he came inside all bleeding and running and then he fell down," Bricila Estrada said.

No arrests have been made in the slaying, but police said it appeared to be gang-related.

The second slaying also took place in West Oakland. An East Palo Alto teen -- 19-year-old Corey T. Anderson -- was fatally shot outside his mother's home on Hannah Street about 7:40 p.m. He was taken to Highland Hospital, where he died at 8:36 p.m.

Police said Anderson apparently got into a confrontation with someone outside the home. There have been no arrests in the case.

Oakland's homicide rate has more than doubled that of a year ago. This weekend's slaying ran that total to 39 while there were just 16 at this time last year.