Who’s who in the Oakland Officer Tuan Le murder case

OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) — Four men are charged in the case of slain Oakland Police Department Officer Tuan Le. All four defendants appeared in court on Thursday and pleaded not guilty.

Officer Le was fatally shot in the line of duty on Dec. 29, 2023, when a group of men ran from a burglarized business near Jack London Square. Someone in the group opened fire on the undercover officer, and everyone at the scene evaded arrest, interim police chief Darren Allison said.  Le and a second OPD officer never returned fire.

Detectives worked around-the-clock to identify who was in the group of fleeing burglars, who pulled the trigger, and where they were hiding. Four men were arrested within the first week of January.

Mark Demetrious Sanders, 27

Sanders is charged with first-degree murder and burglary. Prosecutors believe he was the gunman who fatally shot Le, and he knew that Le was an undercover police officer.

Oakland police officers found Sanders in Livermore and arrested him using Le’s handcuffs, according to police.

Sanders is a convicted violent felon, served time in prison, and would pose a “serious danger to society” if he was released from jail, prosecutors wrote in court documents. He is currently locked up in Santa Rita Jail without bail.

Allen Starr Brown, 28

Brown is also charged with first-degree murder and burglary. Investigators said he was inside a vehicle with Sanders when they decided to open fire on Le’s unmarked OPD vehicle. Brown is being held in Santa Rita Jail without bail.

Marquise Cooper, 34

Cooper is charged with first-degree murder and he is the most recently nabbed suspect in the case. He was arrested on January 9 in Dublin. Cooper is also in jail without bail, inmate records show.

Prosecutors are seeking to ensure that the accused killers will never see a day of freedom from a jail cell. “I will leverage the full weight of my office against these people who we believe ruthlessly and wantonly murdered an officer who gave his life to protect our community,” District Attorney Pamela Price said.

Sebron Ray Russell, 28

Russell is charged with burglary. He is the only defendant in the case who is not facing murder charges and he is currently out of custody. Officer Le was responding to an in-progress burglary at a cannabis business when he was shot.

The four defendants are slated to return to the Oakland courthouse on January 24.

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