Bay Area cyclists are on edge after two men bike-jacked a teenager in the East Bay Hills Wednesday morning.
It happened near Tilden Park Golf Course while the teenager was out for a morning bike ride.
“Just doing a fun ride on his own in the morning and got blocked by a black Camry. Two guys got out, took his bike,” said Nick Hoeper-Tomich, who oversees the Berkeley High Mountain Bike Team and coaches the teenager. “He didn’t put up a fight or anything like that.”
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
Hoeper-Tomich said it was a similar scene to recent carjackings caught on dash cam video with the teen being boxed in before the bike-jacking.
“It seems that the M.O., how they do this, they seem very professional in the way they cut you off and they’re out of their car,” he said.
Cyclists say this is the latest in a string of bike-jackings in the East Bay Hills, with Oakland police confirming that one happened on Redwood Road and Skyline Boulevard last month.
“It’s scary,” said Kris Campbell, a cyclist and coach. “I don’t know what else to say other than it’s scary.”
Campbell said he knows another person who was recently bike-jacked in the hills.
“There’s somebody who boxed them in and, at gun-point, says give me your stuff, give me your phone, give me your bike,” he said. “It’s terrifying for the people involved. It creates anxiety for a long time. It’s hard to get over that.”
Cyclists are trying to get the word out to the wider community. They urge people to ride in groups, not to wear headphones like AirPods, and to try avoiding riding on main roads.
“You never know who is behind a weapon or a gun, so don’t fight back,” said Hoeper-Tomich. “It’s not worth your life.”
East Bay Regional Park officials said they have some leads on the Wednesday bike-jacking and are actively investigating.
