‘A lot of people are not playing and you’ll get knocked down’: Oakland man gets 21 years in fatal shooting over gun deal
OAKLAND — A Bay Area man has accepted a plea deal and a 21-year prison term in the fatal shooting of an acquaintance who allegedly gave him counterfeit cash in a deal for a semi-automatic pistol, court records show.
Edwin “Scooby” McNeal, 59, pleaded no contest to manslaughter in the May 24, 2019 shooting death of Charles “Chuck” Crutcher, 50, and was sentenced last month to 21 years in prison, court records show. McNeal shot Crutcher shortly after Crutcher arrived at a home on the 10300 block of Foothill Boulevard in Oakland, where McNeal had allegedly spent the day smoking crack cocaine with the only two eyewitnesses to the shooting.
One of the home’s residents testified at McNeal’s preliminary hearing that McNeal called and texted Crutcher repeatedly to come to the residence. He denied knowing anything about a “gun for dope” transaction between the two men, but said the reason McNeal wanted to see Crutcher was “maybe something that might have been a little illegal.” The other roommate told authorities that McNeal shot Crutcher because he was angry about how a gun deal went, an Oakland police homicide investigator testified.
McNeal allegedly texted Crutcher, “Chuck them two bills was fake. I got the 40 clock (sic),” which police believe was a reference to a .40 caliber Glock pistol. One of the home’s residents testified McNeal said, “big, bad Chuck” before fatally shooting Crutcher. Authorities say McNeal also searched online for “Chuck killed in Oakland” after the shooting. .
McNeal faced a life sentence under California’s three-strikes law, but avoided that through the plea deal.
When McNeal was arrested in Fresno after the homicide, police testified he made an “unsolicited comment” that might explain his motive.
“A person can’t be going around selling drugs, doing things to people, and belittling people who help them trying to get your money,” McNeal allegedly said. “A lot of people are not playing and you’ll get knocked down”