OAKLAND, Calif _ A man working on his laptop computer in a Montclair district coffee shop suffered major injuries and later died Tuesday after pursuing a person who took the device, police said.
The theft happened around 11:37 a.m. at the Starbucks on Mountain Boulevard, police said.
Authorities did not immediately say how the man was injured. He jumped up from his table after the thief grabbed the laptop and started chasing him, police said.
The suspect got into a vehicle which drove off with the victim still trying to chase it, authorities said. It was not clear if there was a driver waiting.
Police said the man ended up injured on the roadway just around the corner from the Starbucks.
A crew of Oakland Fire Department firefighters happened to be in the area, and immediately began emergency life-saving measures on the victim, who suffered injury to his head, before he was taken in an ambulance to a hospital.
Police announced the man's death around 5 p.m. His identity was not immediately released.
Police were canvassing the area looking for video surveillance and witnesses to try and identify the suspect and get a detailed description of the vehicle. The cafe remained open while officers carried out the investigation.
For some, the tragic incident recalled the August 2017 death of musician Dave DePoris, a much-loved songwriter who was fatally injured in the city's Temescal neighborhood while trying chase down the thief who stole his laptop from a Telegraph Avenue cafe. In that case, police were able to recover images from surveillance-camera footage and release a suspect description.
Tuesday's death is the 78th homicide of the year in Oakland, of which 75 are considered murders. Last year at this time, there were 75 homicides, 68 of which were considered murders.
