The State - News from March 12, 1989

A veteran Oakland police homicide investigator said he has seen the local murder rate escalate sharply for a week or two before, but never like in February, when 22 people died at the hands of others. Sgt. Jerry Medsker, on the homicide detail for eight years, said he has “never seen a pace like this. I’ve seen a week or two go like that, but never a two-month period.” Since the beginning of the year, Oakland has had 33 homicides, or one every 1.8 days. Of the total, 24 have been classified as drug-related.