Man charged with attempted murder for arrow attack

A 22-year-old homeless man from Albany has been charged with two counts of attempted murder for allegedly wounding two other homeless men by firing arrows at them at a camp near the Bay Trail in Albany early Saturday morning.

Addae Preciado was arraigned on the two attempted murder counts on Thursday and is scheduled to return to court on Friday to be assigned an attorney and possibly enter a plea.

Preciado was arrested at the El Cerrito BART station shortly before noon on Tuesday after investigators identified him as the suspect in the attack at about 12:30 a.m. on Saturday in the a marsh area along the Bay Trail south of Central Avenue in Albany, according to East Bay Regional Park District police spokeswoman Lt. Gretchen Rose.

Investigators initially thought the attack occurred in Richmond on the Contra Costa County side of the border in that area but later determined that by a matter of only a few feet it actually occurred in Albany on the Alameda County side, Rose said.

Authorities said Preciado is an acquaintance of the victims in the case and the attack was targeted.

Both victims are still recovering from their wounds at Highland Hospital in Oakland.

The two victims were setting up a tent along the Bay trail at about 12:30 a.m. on Saturday when Preciado approached them in the dark, East Bay Regional Park District police Officer David Claeys wrote in a probable cause statement.

One victim was struck in his stomach by an arrow and the other victim in his stomach and right thigh by arrows, Claeys said.

Both victims were admitted to Highland Hospital to undergo emergency surgery for the arrow wounds they suffered, according to Claeys.

The victims know Preciado by his nickname of “Panda” and identified him as the person who shot them with arrows, Claeys wrote.

When investigators interviewed Preciado he admitted that he shot each victim twice with arrows by using a compound bow, Claeys said.

Compound bows use a levering system, usually of cables and pulleys, and are widely used in target practice and hunting.