Jonathan Bandabaila, 19, has been missing since May 3. His family has been seeking help from the public but now it sounds like the Oakland Police Department dropped the ball at the beginning. They had more priority over a dog than a human being.
Harrison Bandabaila, Jonathan’s older brother, spoke on SiriusXM’s Urban View “The Clay Cane Show.” While he said Oakland police appear to finally be taking his brother’s disappearance seriously, they surely didn’t in the beginning.
Harrison explained, “One of my family’s complaints was that the Oakland Police Department put out a memo that there’s a dog missing — two days after it was missing. It took them 49 days to put out that Jonathan was missing.” Harrison originally said 149 days but later clarified that it was 49 days.
He continued, That’s very frustrating because when my mom — she literally sits down every day and watches the news — she would just cycle through the new stations every night just to see if somebody would report it… This was before we got our press conference.”
He also said, “She’s seeing all these reports about dogs and all this other stuff. She’s just like, like I know that people love their animals, but you have people out there who are missing.”
Harrison said after speaking to elected officials in his area, he was able to get media attention around the story. Originally, police wanted to close the case as a suicide but his family insisted he did not take his own life. Listen to the clip below:
On the afternoon of May 3, Jonathan Bandabaila left his Fruitvale District home to attend a soccer tournament. KTVU reports, “Police later found his 1998 silver Honda Accord abandoned in the westbound direction of the San Mateo Bridge. There is a photo of what appears to be his car as it passed through the toll booth.” Items inside of his car were soccer gear and clothes he planned to wear to an upcoming formal event, according to East Bay Times.
Oakland Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said at a press conference this week, “We do believe someone has information. And we would ask our partners throughout the community to reach out. With some of the leads we have, we believe there is more information. So that’s why you getting the actual appeal from our level as well.”
The family is offering a $2,500 reward. Back on May 30, his mother emotionally spoke at a press conference. See below:
Source: Oakland Police Notified Public Of Missing Dog Faster Than Missing Black Teen
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