‘Derick Ion is Guilty': Message Crops Up After Deady Oakland Ghost Ship Warehouse Fire
One woman on Twitter said that she saw the image painted on a building in West Oakland.
By Lisa Fernandez ••
Images blaming an artist’s collective founder for the deaths of 36 lives during Oakland’s deadliest blaze in history are cropping up on social media feeds, and fueling a frenzy of anger toward a man many said ignored safety hazards inside the Ghost Ship warehouse.
The words “Derick Ion is GUILTY” and then a tally of 36 hashmarks, one for each person killed inside the warehouse fire on Dec. 2, are scrawled on a brick wall in paint in a stark black-and-white image being posted on several Facebook pages.
Who took the photo, who wrote the words and where they were painted around Oakland was not immediately clear.
But the message certainly was.[[407626175, C]]
Many people on local activist and musician Gina Madrid’s Facebook page, started talking about how they’d been trying for years to stop Almena who would come at them with “fists and guns.” His last name is Almena, but many refer to him as Derick Ion. Woods lists herself as a an artist, activist and director at Steelo Entertainment. Efforts to reach her on Tuesday were not immediately successful. She wrote on her post that she's seen the image in "several areas around Oakland." One woman on Twitter said that she saw the image painted on a building in West Oakland.
OaklandGhostShip.com
On Dec. 3, 2016, a three-alarm fire broke out at an Oakland warehouse killing at least nine people, with at least two dozen others still unaccounted for. This image and subsequent others are from inside the building commonly referred to as the "Oakland Ghost Ship."
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The building was considered an artist's conclave, cluttered with wood workers, sculptors, painters and more.
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City officials described the building as a "labyrinth of artist studios."
OaklandGhostShip.com
A Facebook event page indicates that the fire happened during a Golden Donna show, which was promoted by Los Angeles-based dance label 100% Silk.
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Battalion Chief Lisa Baker said the building was "subdivided into other occupancies" and between 50 and 100 people were partying on the upper floor.
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An official with the Oakland Planning Department said the building was only permitted for use as a warehouse.
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City officials are investigating whether people were living in the warehouse illegally before the lethal fire.
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The party that young electronic music fans flocked to "would require a special permit from the city, and such a permit had not been issued," said an official.
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It is common knowledge, according to a neighbor, that artists lived inside the warehouse and left all sorts of junk — including RVs and odds-and-ends — outside, drawing scavengers.
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Oakland property records indicate that the warehouse is owned by the Chor N. Ng trust.nA family member speaking on behalf of Ng said they were "trying to figure out what happened just like everyone else" and were "sorry to hear of [the tragedy] and those injured and killed."
Ajesh Shah
Ajesh Shah, 35, of Oakland took photos of the art inside the Ghost Ship several times before. He shared these photos with NBC Bay Area.
Ajesh Sheh
Not only was the artists' “labyrinth” filled with a bevy of artwork, wooden pieces, electrical wires, Hindu god statues and even a gun, but the stairwell, decorated with pink lights, was makeshift, too. He took a photo of the staircase two years ago. Pictured above: The staircase inside the Ghost Ship warehouse that burned down on Dec. 2, 2016, taken in 2014.
Ajesh Shah
“We gathered to have interesting conversations about embracing different art forms,” Ajesh Shah told NBC Bay Area.
Ajesh Shah
The inside space of the warehouse on East 31st Avenue was both beautiful and a “disaster waiting to happen,” Ajesh Shah said. That's why he only hosted one event, "partly, because I did not feel like I wanted to use the space again because of safety in and outside the venue."
Others on her post said there are lots of people to blame, including those who stayed silent when they saw the electrical maze and unsafe hazards inside the warehouse. One woman wrote that people living inside the warehouse have a share of the responsibility, too, because they knew it wasn’t safe, and to blame one man for the tragedy just isn’t fair.
Almena gave an interview to the Today Show days after the fire, saying he was sorry for what happened, but excusing himself from responsibility for the deadly fire during an electronic dance party. He and his wife and three children had spent that night in a hotel.
He has not been arrested or charged with any crime, although the Alameda County District Attorney has launched a criminal investigation into the fire.
Still, he has a newly retained and high-profile San Francisco attorney, Tony Serra, who sent a statement to the media on Monday saying his client should “not be made a scapegoat” for the fire. Serra added that his own legal team conducted an investigation, which “shows that Derick Almena committed no conduct amounting to criminal negligence.”
Messages to some of the victims were also being painted across the Bay Area. RIP to Johnny Igaz, one of the 36, was found written in San Francisco at Taqueria El Farolito at 24th Streets
In Oakland and San Francisco, similar messages were written in memorial of Cash Askew, who was also killed in the fire.
