Two men charged with murder in the fatal shooting of an undercover Oakland
police officer were ordered Thursday to remain held in custody without
bail.

The alleged shooter, Mark Sanders, 27, and co-defendant Allen Brown, 28,
did not enter pleas during a brief arraignment at Wiley Manuel Courthouse
in Oakland. A hearing for them to enter pleas was set for Jan. 18.

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Sanders also faces a special allegation that he knew Le was a police
officer, among other allegations and charges.

A third co-defendant, Sebron Russell, 30, was charged with second-degree
commercial burglary. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Elena Condes set
his bail at $275,000.

Le, 36, was shot about 4:30 a.m. Friday after he and other officers
responded to a reported burglary at a cannabis business on Embarcadero
near Fifth Avenue, according to police.

Sanders� attorney, Annie Beles, on Thursday expressed her condolences to
the family and friends of Le and said she didn�t have enough evidence to
speak about the allegations in detail.

�Every person who is charged with a crime is presumed to be innocent
unless and until the contrary is proven beyond a reasonable doubt,� Beles
said outside the courtroom after Sanders� arraignment. �He is presumed
innocent.�

Sanders could face life without the possibility of parole if convicted of
all charges and allegations.

Attorneys for Brown and Russell declined to comment or did not respond to
requests for comment.

The shooting occurred after a third report of a burglary at the same
cannabis business, according to police and court records.

After the third report, officers found an unsecured building and several
suspects running from the front door toward awaiting vehicles in a parking
lot, according to court records. As the suspects took off east on
Embarcadero, at least one of them fired a shot at an undercover vehicle
and struck Le in the driver�s seat, according to the records.

Investigators allege Sanders fired the gun while Brown was driving their
getaway vehicle.

Le�s fellow officers rushed him to a hospital, where he died about four
hours later.

Interim Police Chief Darren Allison previously said there were two reports
of a burglary in progress at the business, and that the first report came
in at 1 a.m. At that time officers took a report, investigated and left,
Allison said.

According to court records, the business was targeted three times within a
few hours. Investigators allege Sanders, Brown and Russell took part in
the three burglaries at the cannabis business. Surveillance footage showed
that the burglars broke in with tools and took marijuana products, which
they loaded in their vehicles, according to court records.

Sanders was arrested about 12:30 a.m. Tuesday in Livermore and booked into
Santa Rita Jail, according to jail records. His criminal history includes
a manslaughter conviction in Alameda County, according to court records.
The East Bay Times reported that Sanders pleaded no contest to the charge
in connection with the shooting of an 18-year-old man in 2014 when Sanders
was 17.

Brown was arrested about 9:35 p.m. on New Year�s Eve and Russell was
arrested about 1 a.m. New Year�s Day.

Russell�s criminal history includes two convictions for second-degree
burglary in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, according to court records.
He was on probation at the time of Friday�s shooting.

On Thursday, his attorney, Tom Knutsen, asked Condes, the judge, to set
bail at $50,000, saying in part that while Russell faced burglary charges,
he was not charged in connection with the fatal shooting of Le. Condes set
his bail at $200,000 for the burglary charges and $75,000 for an alleged
parole violation. The judge cited Russell�s criminal history.

Police said Wednesday that the investigation was ongoing and other arrests
were expected, but wouldn�t say how many others they believe were
involved. On Thursday, the East Bay Times reported that a fourth suspect,
Marquise Cooper, 34, was arrested on a burglary warrant Wednesday night in
Southern California.

Reach David Hernandez: david.hernandez@sfchronicle.com

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