Oakland’s Rockridge residents on edge as mysterious rock-thrower strikes again

By Andrea Nakano

For almost a year, residents in the Rockridge area of Oakland have been on the lookout for a man throwing rocks through the windows of homes and cars. One family was attacked twice recently, and they’re finding out they’re not alone.

Driving down the streets just north of Highway 24 in the Rockridge community, you can see boarded-up windows scattered in the neighborhood. It was just three weeks ago when a rock came flying through the window of Luis Aguirre’s home.

“We were literally just sleeping and at 6 a.m., we got rudely awakened at 6 in the morning with a fat rock thrown through our window,” Aguirre said.

Luckily, no one was hurt, but he says if it had happened any later, either he or his daughter would’ve been watching TV when it happened that Saturday morning. After the incident, he shared what happened on social media.

“We wanted to tell our neighbors to make sure they were aware this happened,” he said. “We reached out to anyone who had any footage, that was our immediate like, trying to track down who did this and what motivation did they try and do.”

Aguirre also put up security cameras to hopefully catch the man responsible. Within days, the next incident happened. This time, a rock shattered a window of his car.

“We got footage of the individual that did it,” he said. “Just aimlessly walking in the middle of the street, just threw the rock in our car.”

Other residents have captured footage of the suspect as well and have posted these fliers of a man wearing red sweatpants all throughout the neighborhood. Residents say they’ve experienced crime in this area, but this feels different.

“Seeing stuff like this, even though it feels less malicious and more something else is going on with this individual, it still makes me feel a little anxious,” said resident Mishari Aleisa.

Aguirre says once he posted what happened at his house, more of his neighbors have come forward to share similar stories. Many of the residents are sharing information and videos, hoping to put an end to the chaos.

“I’m constantly anxious about any sound I hear now,” Aguirre said. “It’s like, what was that? Definitely shaken up our minds a little bit. We know it’s not a widespread theft, crime issue. Definitely feels like one individual who’s disturbed, and we’re just hoping he gets support to track him down and get it to stop.”