Man who allegedly killed Oakland parole agent has decades-long criminal history

Suspect in parole agent's killing was day late for appointment

Bryan Keith Hall, 48, is accused of killing a parole agent in Oakland last week. Hall was actually a day late to his meeting with his assigned parole agent and when he showed up the next day, he opened fire on a different parole agent.

OAKLAND, Calif. - Newly obtained court documents show that Bryan Keith Hall, the man who allegedly shot and killed Oakland parole agent Joshua Lemont Byrd last week, has an extensive criminal history stretching back nearly 30 years.

A criminal complaint filed Monday in the Alameda County Superior Court detailing the Thursday shooting also chronicles 10 previous convictions against Hall.

He was first convicted in June 1996 of second-degree robbery in Alameda County, when he was about 19 years old, according to the criminal complaint.

Hall received a second conviction about nine years later in September 2005 in Alameda County for possessing a controlled substance for sale, then again in 2007 for possessing crack cocaine for sale.

Hall was again convicted in Alameda County in April 2011 for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

He was slapped with two convictions in Stanislaus County in April 2015 for "unlawful driving or taking of a vehicle" and for evading an officer, according to the criminal complaint.

Two years later, in November 2017, Hall was again convicted in Stanislaus County of stealing a vehicle and evading arrest. He also received a conviction that year for "assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury."

Hall’s final conviction was received on Jan. 7, 2025 in Alameda County – roughly six months before Byrd's killing – for assault with a deadly weapon.

The backstory:

Byrd was shot just before 1 p.m. Thursday at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation building in Oakland on Edgewater Drive.

Responding officers found Byrd and placed him directly inside a police vehicle for transport to the hospital rather than waiting for an ambulance, but the parole agent died of his wounds.

After an hours-long manhunt in the wake of the shooting, Hall was found near 90th Avenue and International Boulevard and taken into custody.

On Monday, prosecutors charged Hall with murder and the special circumstance of murder of a peace officer, which means if convicted, he could face life in prison without parole.

He was also charged with robbing a woman riding an AC Transit bus that authorities say he took from the crime scene to 66th and Bancroft. From there, Oakland police say he stole a Ram cargo van, ditched it a couple of miles away and threw an orange safety vest and 9mm handgun into a trash can.

Henry Lee is a KTVU crime reporter. E-mail Henry at Henry.Lee@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @henrykleeKTVU and www.facebook.com/henrykleefan