OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) – Former U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer was assaulted and robbed in Oakland’s Jack London Square Monday, her representatives tweeted.
“The assailant pushed her in the back, stole her cell phone and jumped in a waiting car. She is thankful that she was not seriously injured,” the tweet read.
Oakland police confirm a victim was robbed while walking in the 300 block of 3rd Street around 1:15 p.m. They did not release or confirm the name of the victim.
“The suspect forcefully took loss from the victim, and fled in a nearby waiting vehicle,” the police said in a statement.
Justin Berton, a spokesperson for Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, released the following statement to KRON4 in response to the incident:
“The Mayor was deeply troubled to learn of the assault and robbery of Sen. Boxer today. She spoke with the Senator’s family to extend her well wishes for a speedy recovery and was relieved to learn she was not seriously injured. OPD is investigating the incident and is working to collect any surveillance images from the area that will assist in their investigation..”
The Oakland Police Department’s Robbery Section is currently investigating this incident.
Officials are offering a reward of up to $2,000 leading to an arrest in this case.
Anyone with information is asked to call OPD’s Robbery Section at 510-238-3326 or the Crime Stoppers Tip Line at 510-777-8572.
Boxer served as California’s U.S. Senate representative from 1993 to 2017. She also served in the House of Representatives for a decade.
In an interview with CNN the following day, Boxer said she was “stunned.”
“I just want to say that we’ve lived there since 2005…we’ve never had any kind of trouble…wonderful (area) greenery…this day was different and unexpected…..there were a couple guys waiting and literally that’s what they wanted so one of them kind of stalked me and I said ‘ok he’s leaving’ and then one guy jumped out the car and….slammed me in the back and I obviously let go of the phone….my earphones fell to the ground and I’ve never been so surprised… I was stunned.”
When asked about policing, Boxer said in part “We need more money for community policing.”
“Community policing works because you have to make relationships with these young people… these are our youngsters… they were the same age as my grandkids… I don’t know automatically I yelled out ‘How could you do this to a grandmother?’ We have to do all of this, we have to pass sensible gun laws, we don’t need weapons of war on our streets,” she said.