His Life Matters, Too

(Chronicle photo)

David Patrick Underwood, 53, was shot and killed during Friday night's "unrest" in Oakland while serving "as [a] contract security officer for the Department of Homeland Security, guarding the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building."

After graduating from Pinole Valley High in 1985, Underwood enrolled at Contra Costa College, where he went out for both the basketball and baseball teams. When those didn’t work out, he hit a wall, and Underwood drifted up to Sacramento, where a lot of his high school buddies had moved.

But he never really left the family home in Pinole and was always there when his parents needed him. When their health failed, he ended up moving home for good to take care of them until they died.

He was still in the family home and assumed his own father’s role as something of a patriarch to a slew of cousins, nieces and nephews.

“Pat was someone you could depend on,” said [brother] Greg Underwood. “If you said ‘Pat, I need a ride to work at 9,’ Pat was there at 8:59, beeping his horn. Anything that he would put his mind to, he did it.”

...Witnesses to Friday’s shooting reported that the two guards were ambushed by gunmen who pulled up in a white van. The other victim is said to be in stable condition and has not been identified.

Everyone but a few crazies rejoiced when they arrested the officer responsible for the death of George Floyd in Minnesota. I hope there will be similar joy when they catch those who killed Mr. Underwood.

Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland: “We should never conflate the actions of murderers with the motives of protesters demanding justice.”