OAKLAND — A 72-year-old man has been launched from jail whereas he fights fees of killing a person who was allegedly squatting on the defendant’s lifeless mom’s house, court docket information present.
John Cvar, of Oakland, was charged in August with murdering Aknico Heidengren, a 33-year-old man who glided by “Justice.” Cvar was being held with no bail till final month, when his lawyer filed movement referring to Heidengren as one among many “vagrants and drug users” that Cvar’s youthful brother had allowed to remain on the brothers’ deceased mom’s residence, resulting in a battle between Heidengren and one among Cvar’s two brothers.
“I am a sovereign citizen,” Heidengren allegedly yelled at John Cvar and his brother after they informed Heidengren to depart the residence. Cvar would later inform police that he and his brother have been shedding a struggle with Heidengren, so Cvar pulled a pistol and — in his phrases — tried to fireplace into the air to scare him, however apparently ended up by some means hitting Heidengren within the neck as an alternative, based on court docket information.
Heidengren ran a brief distance, however then fell to the bottom, mortally wounded. Cvar was arrested and charged with homicide. The incident occurred round 2 p.m. on Aug. 9, at a house on the five hundred block of Aileen Road in Oakland, court docket information present.
In court docket filings, Cvar’s lawyer, Seth Morris, described Cvar as a lifelong laborious employee and caretaker, who stepped in to assist his household — first when Cvar’s father was identified with most cancers, later when Cvar’s mom received sick and died, and eventually when Cvar’s youthful “alcoholic and drug addict” brother started residing within the house and permitting random transients to remain there.
“Mr. Cvar, 72-year-old man with no record, tried to protect his addicted and vulnerable brother from man who was not supposed to be in his late mother’s house. He asked the man to leave, came back the next day, and the man violently attacked him and his brother,” Morris wrote. “Firing one shot in that situation is not crime. It was an act in response to the violence that was being inflicted on himself and his brother.”
Only a 4 days earlier than he was killed, Heidengren had been launched from jail in a pending misdemeanor battery case, court docket information present. He had additionally been accused of brandishing a deal with from a pull wagon at workers of an East Bay cafe final February, after they caught him stealing merchandise, based on court docket information.
As soon as arrested within the brandishing case, Heidengren was positioned in a psychological well being maintain however “escaped custody while en route” to a psychiatric medical facility, police mentioned in court docket filings.
Cvar’s preliminary listening to has been set for Oct. 23.
Initially Revealed: October 3, 2025 at 10:09 AM PDT
