They were about to leave for the church from their home on 73rd Ave. and Fresno St. when two rival gangs He started fighting nearby. One opened fire and then the other.

Grisham’s daughter was shot first. Her son, Christopher LeVell Jones, ran to the car to look for his niece, but was fatally struck by a bullet. He was 17 years old.

Since then, Grisham has become one of Oakland’s most vocal voices, denouncing violence and corruption as she seeks justice not only in memory of her son but also the hundreds of families who have lost loved ones on the crime-filled streets of Oakland. She has become an advocate for the victims and their families and has become a big thorn in their side. Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price side.

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“My interaction with District Attorney Price, even in March, regarding the way he spoke to some families was appalling,” Grisham told the Washington Examiner. Grisham said Price dismissed the family members and said she was too busy to listen to their concerns.

“She decided to disrespect those families in my presence, and then she attacked me and never apologized,” Grisham added. “I was hoping she would change course and come apologize to the moms, but that never happened. “It just went on and on, and the disrespect continued.”

In fact, there is so much bad blood between Grisham and Price that Grisham’s name is first on the recall petition against the new district attorney.

Like Grisham, business owners, residents and visitors to Oakland and other parts of Alameda County say they don’t feel safe in their community and blame Price. Most want her to leave office.

Alameda County voters will have the power to do just that Tuesday when they vote on Price’s recall.

The result is a pivotal moment for the future of how criminal cases are processed across liberal California county, as described in the Washington Examiner as “a lawless land” and “the new Detroit of the 80s” by resident Javier Jones.

“There is more dysfunction and corruption here,” Jones said. “It’s exactly like it used to be in Detroit. “Price doesn’t know what she’s doing and has gone from inept to dangerous.”

Price is a former defense and civil rights attorney. She had never prosecuted a single case when she was chosen for the prestigious position. During the election campaign, she promised criminal justice reforms and a “new era in the District Attorney’s Office” if elected. He received a big financial boost from the billionaire. Democratic mega-donor George Soros and Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, when she first ran for the seat in 2018. She lost that race, but ran again in 2022 and beat Terry Wiley, the county’s chief deputy district attorney. .

Soros, who funneled more than $5 million into his fundraising PAC, the California Justice and Public SafetyFrom 2018 to 2020, he turned off the money spigot to Price and the Los Angeles County district attorney. George Gascon this election cycle. Both are deeply unpopular, face impeachment and are in danger of being forced out of office.

It would be a tough fall for Price, the first Black woman to serve as Alameda County’s top prosecutor. When he was sworn in, his liberal agenda was very clear and enthusiasm began to grow.

He promised to reform the way the district attorney’s office did business, including prohibiting the use of sentencing enhancements, a tool prosecutors use to increase the penalty for a crime by adding time to a base sentence. He also sought to resentence offenders facing long prison terms, end the practice of charging juveniles as adults and crack down on police misconduct.

Price said his leadership would ensure progressive justice for diverse and often disenfranchised communities. But less than a year after she was sworn in, residents — fed up with her handling of crime — began impeachment proceedings.

The challenge to Price marks the second recall effort in two years by a liberal district attorney in the Bay Area. The first took place in 2022 with the withdrawal of Chesa Boudin, San Francisco District Attorney.

If Price’s removal is successful, it would be a serious blow to the type of criminal justice reform advocated by Price, Boudin and Soros. If Price manages to overcome the recall, it would send a powerful message that voters in Alameda County still agree with the progressive agenda despite all the problems.

“I’m not in favor of recalls in general because I think they cost too much money and time, but Price has to go,” George Latvilla told the Washington Examiner. Latvilla has lived in Oakland for four decades and said leadership, city services and crime have collapsed under Price.

Edward Escobar of the Community Engagement Coalition/Citizens United supports impeachment. He said Price prioritizes the rights of criminals over victims and has ignored his promise to fight for minorities, particularly among Oakland’s Asian American population, which has seen a rise in hate crimes.

“She talks about reforming the criminal justice system, but it is her version that is dysfunctional; “It’s defective,” he told the Washington Examiner. “She says, ‘Oh, the perpetrators are victims too.’ I’m sorry, but real victims of crime are not told that. I agree with her that criminals are victims of the social economic injustice that has occurred, but that is not their job. “She is testing people as a social experiment.”

Escobar said he disagrees with Price’s willingness to drop the weapons enhancement charges.

“Do you remember the phrase ‘Get a gun, go to prison’? Now it’s ‘Use a gun and hey, you might be more successful and there won’t be any consequences,’” Escobar said.

Representative Eric Swalwell (D-CA) has also supported the recall effort.

“Pamela Price has failed the people of the East Bay and we are coming together to seek her removal,” said the California Democrat, who accused Price of being too lenient. “Police catch and Price releases”.

Price’s office has also been criticized for missing deadlines for filing more than 1,000 misdemeanor cases that have been collecting dust on his desk. He Chronicle of San Francisco, in your support of removal, called his inaction a “stunning miscarriage of justice” that “left victims hanging and eliminated rehabilitation and accountability for offenders.”

In the short time Price has been in office, she has been accused of punishing her opponents, hiring allies with questionable credentials, including her own boyfriend, ignoring public disclosure laws, and demonstrating a level of incompetence that is in a league of its own. , according to those who have been the target of his anger, Grisham said. More recently, Price has been accused of attempting to extort a political rival.

Before being sworn in, Price had never prosecuted a case. She promised voters that she would be ready to hit the ground running on day one and boasted that she would hire a top team with “proven records of leading judicial reforms” to support her.

His team included Royl Roberts, a man who passed the California bar just six months before being hired by Price. The other top assistant he hired was Otis Bruce Jr., who was recruited into the Marin County prosecutor’s office while he was under investigation there. The results of that investigation revealed that he had displayed gender bias, made derogatory comments and often bullied young women. Then there was Eric Lewis, a former deputy chief of the Oakland Police Department who was given the option to retire or be fired in 2021. Then Price hired her boyfriend. Antwon Cloirdas a senior program specialist, giving him a six-figure salary for a job that was never publicly announced.

Price has rejected claims that she is unfit for office and has blamed pressure to oust her on outside special interest groups and billionaires.

“Alameda County is not for sale,” he said, noting his progressive roots. “This is the home of Earl Warren and the Black Panther Party. We are the Democratic Party of Barbara Lee.”

Last week, she and about 100 supporters held a rally outside the Alameda County Courthouse.

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“We are in the middle of a resistance that is more noisy than massive,” he said, adding that the impeachment against him “turns people’s pain and sorrow into a weapon” and seeks to silence the voice of supporters of reform. criminal justice.

Emeryville City Councilwoman Kalimah Priforce acknowledged that Price “does not use a single maximum punishment for each case approach,” but rather “seeks to address the root causes of crime.”