OAKLAND, California — A 23-year-old Oakland man has been charged in connection with a mass shooting that took place last month during a Juneteenth celebration in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Prosecutors have charged JaJuan Kelly, 23, with four counts of assault with a semi-automatic firearm for shooting four people at the event in Oakland, the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement Wednesday.
Authorities are searching for multiple suspects and District Attorney Pamela Price said she was “deeply relieved to report that one of the individuals” has been charged.
Kelly was one of 14 people shot and injured June 19 at a unauthorized fair after a peaceful celebration attended by thousands. No one was killed and the wounded were in their 20s and 30s. Police initially said 15 people had been shot, but later revised that figure.
Kelly’s attorney Ernie Castillo said Wednesday it could have been self-defense, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
June 19, or Juneteenth, is the day in 1865 when slaves in Galveston, Texas, were told they were free. This was after the end of the Civil War and two years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.
Juneteenth was designated a federal holiday in 2021 and has since gained broader recognition, including beyond Black America.