Oakland broad-daylight shooting suspect charged with attempted murder

Cervando Sterling-Valdez is being sought for shooting an Uzi-style pistol on a downtown Oakland street, injuring an innocent bystander, police say.

A 22-year-old San Francisco man was charged Friday with premeditated attempted murder for a shooting in downtown Oakland on Tuesday that left a female bystander wounded, prosecutors said.

Cervando Sterling-Valdez, who was arrested by undercover Oakland and San Francisco police officers outside his home on Gillette Avenue in San Francisco shortly after midnight, is scheduled to be arraigned at the Wiley Manuel Courthouse in Oakland on Monday.

The shooting occurred in the 1300 block of Broadway shortly after 10:30 a.m. Tuesday during an argument between Sterling-Valdez and an unidentified man, police said.

The intended target of the shooting wasn't hit but the gunfire struck a woman who was standing nearby. She was taken to a hospital, where she was reported to be in stable condition.

On Wednesday, Oakland police asked for the public's help in identifying the suspect and released surveillance video of the gunman pulling a semi-automatic handgun from under his jacket and firing about four shots on Broadway near an entrance to BART's 12th Street Oakland City Center station.

On Thursday, police named Sterling-Valdez as the suspect and said a warrant had been issued for his arrest.

Oakland police Officer Robert Roche wrote in a probable cause statement that undercover San Francisco and

Oakland officers spotted Sterling-Valdez approaching his house on Gillette Avenue in San Francisco at
about 11:40 p.m. on Thursday.

Roche said officers approached Sterling-Valdez and took him into custody without incident, formally placing him under arrest just after midnight today.

Sterling-Valdez was taken to Bayview station in San Francisco, where uniformed Oakland officers picked him up, according to Roche.

Sterling-Valdez was then taken to the Oakland Police Department to be interviewed by felony assault detectives, Roche said.

In addition to attempted murder, Sterling-Valdez is charged with assault with a semi-automatic firearm. He is being held at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin in lieu of $215,000 bail.