OAKLAND — A man with eight felony convictions has been charged with murder in the October 2020 stabbing death of another man near a West Oakland homeless camp they both lived at occasionally, according to authorities and court documents.
Jamel Morris, 48, who was arrested Sept. 17 at another West Oakland homeless camp, is charged in the death of Brian Drohan, 36. Morris was being held without bail at Santa Rita Jail and was scheduled to enter a plea on Sept. 29.
The stabbing happened about 1:18 p.m. October 26, 2020 in the 2400 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Way, a short distance from a homeless encampment where both men lived off and on, police said.
Authorities said the men were acquaintances and that the stabbing apparently was the result of a dispute over property.
According to court documents, Drohan was walking when Morris rode up to him on a bicycle and stabbed him in the left arm with a knife before riding away on the bicycle. Drohan, who was bleeding profusely, ran to the intersection of 25th Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way and collapsed. He was taken to a hospital, where he later died.
According to the documents, an autopsy determined the knife struck an artery in Drohan’s arm and he died from blood loss.
Morris was subsequently identified as the suspect from witness statements and video surveillance footage. A probable cause arrest warrant was issued for him, authorities said.
He was able to evade arrest until Sept. 17. Police investigating a shooting at another homeless camp at Sixth and Castro streets found Morris living there and arrested him, authorities said. Morris was not involved in the shooting, police said.
According to court documents, Morris has eight felony convictions for assault, drug possession and felon in possession of a firearm between December 1999 and August 2015 in both Alameda and Solano counties. According to the documents, he received prison terms in three of the Alameda County convictions: December of 1999 for felon in possession of a firearm, possession of a controlled substance in October 2002 and possession of cocaine for sale in September 2007. He was placed on probation for the other convictions.