Oakland police still won't say who they killed on July 13. Now a homeless advocate is suing to force them to — the latest transparency fight for a department asking to shed 23 years of federal oversight.

A fatal Oakland police shooting near a Fruitvale homeless encampment has produced no victim's name almost a month on — and a lawsuit accusing the department of hiding behind an "active investigation" to deny the public any records at all. The suit is the latest in a documented string of Public Records Act fights for the Oakland Police Department, and it collides with the department's bid to convince a federal judge it has reformed enough to end more than two decades of court oversight.

Robbie Powelson, a homeless advocate affiliated with UC Berkeley Law's Criminal Law and Justice Center, filed suit in Alameda County Superior Court on Aug. 4 alleging the Oakland Police Department violated California's Public Records Act by issuing a blanket denial of his request for records about a fatal police shooting in the Fruitvale district, The Oaklandside first reported. A hearing is set for Sept. 17, according to KALW. OPD says every record is exempt because its investigation is ongoing — and nearly a month after the shooting it still hasn't released the dead man's name.

Officers were called to the 4000 block of International Boulevard just after 2 p.m. on July 13 after the California Highway Patrol requested assistance, according to OPD's statement as reported by KQED. Officers said they found an armed man who ignored their commands and "lunged at officers with a weapon," then used both less-lethal and lethal force, killing him at the scene; weapons were recovered and no officers or bystanders were hurt, the department said. OPD placed the officers who fired on paid administrative leave and referred the case to the Alameda County District Attorney for an independent review. It was the third OPD shooting this year and the second fatal one, KQED reported.

Days later, advocates rallied outside police headquarters demanding OPD release unedited body-camera footage, dispatch audio and a minute-by-minute account. "We want to know what the legal — based on state law — justification was for them to move from what they call less-lethal to lethal weapons. Why this man is dead," said Cat Brooks, co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project, at the rally, per KQED. The department has still not publicly specified what weapon the man was holding.

Six days after the shooting, Powelson filed a records request seeking incident reports, photos, video, witness statements and the department's use-of-force policies, according to The Oaklandside. OPD answered within the Public Records Act's 10-day window — with a denial, citing an internal-affairs case number and saying that because the matter is part of an "active investigation," there are "no responsive, disclosable records," The Oaklandside reported. "If there's an investigation, the department has to set forth records and facts about why there's a public interest in withholding records," Powelson told The Oaklandside. "Their response doesn't do that." He said the victim's apparent homelessness makes the secrecy worse: "When you're dealing with people who are unhoused, by the police withholding that information, it's almost menacing." The Alameda County coroner has placed a "press hold" on the case, The Oaklandside reported.

The department is not new to this accusation. According to The Oaklandside, a group of investigative journalists sued OPD years ago over withheld records; the city agreed to reforms and paid $127,000 in fees — an agreement the journalists' attorney has since said OPD is violating. The Oaklandside reported the city also settled two more Public Records Act suits, brought by attorney Marleen Sacks and the Alameda County Taxpayers Association, and that OPD initially refused to release body-camera video of former NFL running back Doug Martin's in-custody death last October, relenting only in March before Martin's family sued for wrongful death in June.

There is also a deadline the department cannot argue away. Under AB 748, California's police-transparency law, agencies must release video of "critical incidents" — including shootings — within 45 days. That clock runs out near the end of August, and OPD has said it plans to release "contextual critical incident video" before then.

The suit lands at a pointed moment. OPD has operated under federal oversight since 2003, following the Riders scandal, settling for nearly $11 million and 51 court-ordered reforms; in a May report the federal monitor found the department had met all 51 tasks for the first time, and U.S. District Judge William Orrick has signaled he will close the case as soon as Sept. 29 if compliance holds, KQED reported. The Dissent reported last month that Mayor Barbara Lee named James Beere the city's new police chief, a leader supporters see as the one to guide the department out of its 23-year federal oversight. Withholding records in a fatal shooting is precisely the category of conduct that oversight was built to check.