Jamaine Gurley, 21, of Oakland shot and killed Jose Santamaria, 26, and Kenneth Bradley, 22, on Monday night at Wingstop on Lake Park Avenue, authorities said.
Alameda County prosecutors also charged Gurley with carrying a concealed gun and carrying a loaded firearm, both felonies, and filed weapons enhancements as well. Authorities said Gurley, a licensed security guard, was not in legal possession of his gun.
Gurley, who is being held without bail, made his first appearance in an Oakland courtroom Friday morning but did not enter a plea.
He was captured on video armed with a gun at the restaurant, and "he admitted to shooting and killing the two victims," Oakland police Sgt. Randy Brandwood said in an affidavit.
Self-defense argument
Family members of Gurley have told The Chronicle he opened fire while believing he was defending himself and a friend from street toughs who came into the restaurant to harm them.Gurley and his friend had worked guard shifts at a school construction site, Gurley's family said, and were wearing orange safety vests when they entered Wingstop.
After seeing one or two men they believed were about to do them harm, Gurley and his friend ran into a back-room freezer, police said. When Santamaria and Bradley followed to investigate, Gurley opened fire, authorities said.
Gurley had told his friend, "The first person that comes in, we're just going to shoot," said Gurley's mother, 51-year-old Lawana Gurley.
Both victims were wearing uniforms, said Santamaria's girlfriend.
Legal expert Steve Clark said Friday that the unusual circumstances make for a "fascinating case." He said the defense could argue that the case is one of manslaughter under the theory of "imperfect self-defense," in which someone overreacts and attacks a perceived aggressor when in fact the target intends no harm.
"The jury would have to decide whether that's reasonable. Even if you perceived an immediate threat, is it reasonable to use deadly force to quell that?" said Clark, a former Santa Clara County prosecutor who is now a defense attorney.
Relatives said Gurley had no plans that night to kill anyone.
"They came with the intention to eat," said his sister, Kyesha Thompson, 33. "They were getting off work, and unfortunately they picked the wrong spot to eat."
'Innocent people' slain
But Diana Real, Santamaria's girlfriend of three years, said Gurley should be fully prosecuted for taking the lives of "two innocent people that had families they have to live for, two hard-working people."Both victims lived in Richmond and had worked at Wingstop locations for several years.
Gurley graduated in 2010 from McClymonds High School in Oakland, where he was a standout football player, before enrolling at California State University East Bay. He transferred to the University of Phoenix, where he is studying criminal justice, and aspired to be an Oakland police officer, his family said.
Gurley's family said he used his gun in his job as a guard. His mother also said her son had recently obtained the gun because "people were shooting at him" as he went to an Emeryville juice shop. She could not elaborate, and Emeryville police said they had no reports of such an incident.
Although Gurley obtained his California guard license in 2011, he doesn't have a firearm permit, according to the state's online database.
Even if he had a valid gun permit, "he never should have stopped (at the restaurant) with his firearm," said Russ Heimerich, a spokesman for the California Department of Consumer Affairs, which oversees the licenses. "The law says if you are a security guard and have a firearm permit, you can have it at work and to and from work."
Source- SFGate