Oakland has now reached 43 homicides of the year. Last night a man was stabbed and killed in the Fruitvale District. He was later identified by Oakland Police as Juan Mendoza-Velasquez, a Guatemalan father of four.

According to the report in the Oakland Tribune, the incident occurred at about 6p.m. near the E.15^th and 30^th Avenue. Velasquez had been living here with family for three years and worked as a construction worker.

This time last year Oakland was at 53 homicides on the year. In 2008 there was 70 at this time. This clearly shows that the homicides rate is decreasing, but as we all know crime and robberies in the city have become more frequent.

There’s always a human component to stories like these. The family left behind we’ll have to pick themselves up and move forward with life. It’s terrible that such a tragedy had to happen on a holiday.

Oakland is making progress but we still have a long road ahead of us. Let’s just hope that the homicide rate this is the lowest in the past few years.