“There is definitely a balance,” said Officer Roland Holmgren, department spokesman. “This thing had potential — who knows where the suspects were going to take the situation? But by no stretch of the imagination are we agreeing with or justifying what the owner did.”

Holmgren said, “We’re not saying that we want citizens to go out there and arm themselves and take the law into their own hands. We want citizens to be good witnesses, to be good report-takers and to identify suspects.”

The shooting has left two families traumatized, Holmgren said. “There are no winners in this whole case,” he said.

aspiring rap artist

Mohammed Ali, the manager of a market on the busy thoroughfare that has seen its share of robberies, had mixed feelings about business owners arming themselves. "Of course they have a right to protect themselves, but from what? If we have law enforcement, should (businesses) have guns? I don't think so. They're inviting trouble."

Hicks was remembered at a growing makeshift memorial Friday near the corner of 90th Avenue and Olive Street in East Oakland. Friends left balloons, candles and bottles of Hennessy cognac on the street and wrote messages on white boards tied to a fence.

"Hard-headed ass, Boonie," one message read. "The world's gone miss u boy."

"He always had a smile on his face," said a 22-year-old man who identified himself as a rapper named Little Al. "He was a solid dude, loyal."

He didn't express any anger at the pizzeria owner for shooting his friend. "Life happens," he said. "I'm not upset, you feel me? You wouldn't want it to happen, but it happened. Ain't no telling why that shooting occurred."

Oakland cop:....We want citizens to be good witnesses, to be good report-takers and to identify suspects.

"If we have law enforcement, should (businesses) have guns? I don't think so. They're inviting trouble."

I am baffled as to why an armed robber got shot dead. Just inexplicable.