At Vigil for Bay Area Rapper Zumbi, Renewed Calls for Criminal Charges

Over 75 people held a candlelight vigil outside Berkeley’s Alta Bates Summit Medical Center on Sunday night for Stephen Gaines, also known as the rapper Zumbi from the group Zion I. For more than two hours, supporters and loved ones of the spiritually-minded rapper shared songs, memories and calls for justice.

Zumbi died at the hospital in August 2021 after multiple security guards and staff pinned him to the floor and placed their weight on him for approximately five to 10 minutes. In 2022, one year later, the Alameda County coroner ruled his death a homicide.

But Alameda County prosecutors still have not brought criminal charges against the hospital or the security company, Allied Security. At the vigil, Zumbi’s mother, Carolyn Gaines, expressed her frustration at the inaction.

“How do you determine something is a homicide, and then not hold anybody responsible?” asked Gaines.

The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office did not respond to a request for comment. But at the vigil Sunday night, in the shadow of the fourth floor at Alta Bates where Zumbi spent his final moments, supporters made their voices clear.

“Let’s keep fighting,” urged Millaray Rodriguez Avila, Zumbi’s partner of four years. “It’s not just Zumbi. It’s another brother tomorrow. Another sister tomorrow.”

Several hip-hop artists, including Del the Funky Homosapien and Zumbi’s partner in Zion I, Amp Live, joined the vigil. Oakland musician Kev Choice shared a freestyle (“Zumbi keeps telling me / Represent light, represent life”), while Dame Drummer accompanied himself on guitar to sing a mournful solo song written just days prior.

Longtime collaborator The Grouch, explaining that “Zumbi’s number one thing was to spread music,” played a song for attendees over the P.A. that had never been released: a group effort between himself, Zumbi, Eligh and Choice, with verses dedicated to their five-year-old selves.

Equipto, who performed alongside Zion I on Zumbi’s last tour, was more pointed in his call for accountability. “Allied Security, they’ve been known to get away with murder. Even more than the police,” he said.

While former District Attorney Nancy O’Malley initially declined to file criminal charges, O’Malley told lawyers and family shortly afterward that she would revisit the case.

Now, with new District Attorney Pamela Price facing a recall effort, Carolyn Gaines lamented, “I don’t know that she will ever get to it.”

Gaines and Rodriguez Avila both spoke of their own desire, as well as the need of the public, to view the hospital surveillance video of Zumbi’s death, which neither Alta Bates nor Berkeley Police have agreed to release.

The video could answer outstanding questions of how long, exactly, guards were piled on top of Zumbi, as well as the circumstances leading up to it.

“I want people to know what happened,” said Rodriguez Avila, one of many who have spoken to Zumbi’s gentle and loving nature, and how impossible it is to imagine him behaving in a physically threatening manner. “It’s not just me, it’s everybody. We want to see.”

Meanwhile, a civil lawsuit is in progress. Gaines gave a brief update on that case, saying that attorneys had recently sent interrogatories.

“I know some of you have been very frustrated,” Gaines told the crowd. “I want to warn you: Do not think that there is going to be results next month. It may yet be next year. This process moves incredibly slow.”

As candles flickered and the air chilled, her final promise brought a round of applause.

“As long as God gives me breath,” she said, “be ye assured that Carolyn Webb Gaines will still be on the case.”