Police recovered a firearm outside the Panoramic Way residence and said investigators were not searching for an outstanding suspect.
OAKLAND, CA — A married couple was found fatally shot Friday morning outside their Oakland Hills home near the Berkeley border, prompting a homicide investigation as authorities worked to determine what led to the deaths.
Oakland police said the victims were a 61-year-old man and a 63-year-old woman who lived at the home in the 400 block of Panoramic Way, in the hills above the University of California, Berkeley. Authorities recovered a firearm at the scene. Police had not publicly determined the circumstances of the shooting as of Friday evening and said they were not ruling out a possible murder-suicide.
Berkeley police began receiving reports of gunfire shortly before 11 a.m. Friday. Officers responding to the area found the two victims outside the residence and attempted life-saving measures. Both were pronounced dead at the scene after emergency crews arrived, according to authorities.
Oakland Assistant Police Chief Casey Johnson said the department’s homicide unit was investigating. He said police were not searching for anyone believed to be at large and that investigators had found no indication of an ongoing threat to people in the neighborhood. Police nevertheless stressed that the circumstances surrounding the deaths remained under investigation.
The shooting occurred on Panoramic Way, a winding residential street along the Oakland-Berkeley border near the UC Berkeley campus. The location brought officers from both Oakland and Berkeley to the area. Oakland police took the lead in the investigation because the shooting scene falls within Oakland’s jurisdiction.
The university also notified its community about the police activity. UC Berkeley officials said the campus was not affected by the shooting, and university police reported Friday that there were no known or continuing threats to the campus. Police activity remained visible around Panoramic Way as investigators processed the scene.
CBS San Francisco reported that public records and neighbors identified the homeowners as Bryan and Michelle Walker, clothing designers associated with Bryn Walker, an apparel business with retail operations in Berkeley and Massachusetts and clothing sold through boutiques around the country. Oakland police had not publicly released the victims’ names during the initial briefing.
Neighbors described the shooting as unusual for the hillside residential area. Alessandro Isolani told CBS San Francisco that he heard two bangs close together. He said he had lived in the Panoramic Hill area for more than 20 years and had not previously encountered violent crime of this kind there. Other residents reported a heavy emergency response on the narrow streets leading to the scene.
Reports differed slightly on the man’s age during the first hours after the shooting. Oakland police and several local outlets reported that he was 61, while one early report listed him as 64. The woman was consistently identified by authorities as 63. The couple’s official identities had not been released by police in the initial public statements.
Investigators had not announced a motive or explained the sequence of events leading to the gunfire. Johnson said authorities had not ruled out a murder-suicide but cautioned that investigators were still working to establish what happened. No arrests had been announced, and police said they were not searching for an outstanding suspect.
The Oakland Police Department’s investigation remained active as authorities worked to establish the circumstances of both deaths. Police had not announced a final classification of the case or released additional findings about the recovered firearm as of the latest reports.
Author note: Last updated October 3, 2026.