OAKLAND — A Bay Area resident has been charged with killing a 34-year-old man who had allegedly stolen the suspect’s dirt bike moments before being killed in a shootout, according to police and court records.
Bobby Ray Henderson, 45, of Oakland, was charged with one count of murdering Demarcus Banks and two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He is being held without bail at Santa Rita Jail and is set to enter a plea on Feb. 9, court records show.
According to Oakland police, Henderson admitted to shooting Banks — whose first name is also spelled “Da’Marcus” — but claimed he did so after Banks fired at him first. Authorities claim that through surveillance footage and witness statements, they established that Henderson was mad at Banks for stealing his dirt bike, followed him to an encampment on the 1400 block of Sunshine Court in East Oakland and shot him multiple times.
Authorities say they also uncovered video evidence that showed Banks firing his own pistol during the confrontation, but that no gun was found on his body by the time police arrived.
During the investigation, an earlier suspect was arrested after surveillance footage showed him driving a motorcycle in the area, stopping near Banks’ body and heading off, police said. The man later attempted to evade officers on the same motorcycle, but they arrested him.
He was ultimately charged in connection with the police chase, but cleared of involvement in Banks’ dead, authorities said. He reportedly told police he fled because he was scared of the cops, not because he had anything to hide.
Later, police received a tip implicating Henderson, who was employed as a janitor at an Oakland nonprofit designed to help people struggling with homelessness or returning to society after a prison stint, authorities said. Surveillance footage confirmed his involvement in the shooting, according to police.
Henderson wasn’t allowed to possess guns due in part due to a 2021 conviction in Fresno for oral copulation on a victim who was unconscious at the time. The conviction required Henderson to register as a sex offender in Oakland, according to police and court records.
