Man Arrested For Carrying Gun Into Berkeley Restaurant

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BERKELEY (CBS SF) – An Oakland man was arrested on suspicion of two misdemeanor offenses after an alert community member spotted him with a pistol in his back pocket at a restaurant in downtown Berkeley on Saturday evening, police said.

The community member gave police a description of the man who was in line at the restaurant in the 2100 block of Shattuck Avenue at about 6:15 p.m. Saturday, according to police.

Two officers and a supervisor who arrived at the scene a few minutes later saw a man who matched the description standing at the restaurant's counter and detained him in handcuffs without incident, police said.

Gun recovered in arrest at a restaurant on the 2100 block of Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley on February 24, 2018. (Berkeley Police Department)

While detaining the man, the officers could see a pistol in his rear pants pocket. Once he was safely in handcuffs, the officers recovered a loaded, semi-automatic 9mm handgun from him, according to police.

Police identified the suspect as Ernest Ochoa-Tavares, 26, and he was booked into the Berkeley City Jail on suspicion of carrying a loaded firearm in public and carrying a concealed firearm, police said.