OAKLAND (KRON) -- A new and graphic video released to police appears to show the severe, mob beating of a young woman in Oakland. But as disturbing as the incident is, police don't know where it happened for sure, who was involved, or who the victim is.
Early Monday morning, Oakland police received notice that the video was on several websites. That news came from police in New York and Washington, D.C.
Entitled "Oaktown," it was presumably shot in Oakland and possibly during a sideshow. Investigators are baffled.
"I looked at the video and said, all right, where did this happen...how did this happen...and where is the report regarding what happened?" said Lt. Kenny Whitman.
The video is narrated by a calm voice describing what he calls "justice, Oakland style."
"It is suspected that she ratted out gang members to local authorities," the narrator says.
Off camera, the video operator excitedly yells that he wants to get this beating on film, while others in the crowd yell for the assailants to beat the woman and take her clothes off. Several people are seen kicking, punching, and stomping on the woman, who was pulled out of a car.
The woman, who appears 18 to 20 years old, is beaten by as many as 30 people -- male and female -- to the encouraging chants and yells of the huge crowd that has gathered.
"It's a huge gathering in the middle of an intersection, and there are so many people there," Whitman said. "It's hard to fathom that not one individual in this neighborhood called and said they're bearing someone to death in the middle of the street."
What concerns Whitman is that it's clear a life-threatening beating occurred. Neither he nor others in the department can figure out from the location seen on the video or from the lack of any reported beatings recently if this indeed happened in Oakland.
As the investigation continues, police say they are waiting for one of the more than 48,000 people who have viewed the video online to call in with more information.
Police tell KRON 4 News that the case has now been referred to the homicide section since it's hard to believe the woman survived the beating.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Oakland Police Dept. at (510) 238-3349.
(Copyright 2005, KRON 4. All rights reserved.)