OAKLAND — The 48-year-old man accused of fatally shooting a parole agent Thursday in East Oakland was released from jail just months earlier for a random 2022 stabbing near Lake Merritt, where witnesses said he had been talking to himself before the attack.

A detailed picture began to emerge Friday of Bryan Keith Hall, the parolee suspected of bringing a gun into a state corrections office in East Oakland and fatally shooting a parole agent. The death of Joshua Lemont Byrd, 40, marked the first on-duty killing of a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officer in seven years.

Hall remained held without bail Friday morning at the Santa Rita Jail on suspicion of first-degree murder and violating his parole, while awaiting an arraignment scheduled for Monday.

Meanwhile, a 100-mile procession moved Friday afternoon from Oakland to Sacramento, as Byrd’s body was driven to a funeral home in the state’s capital, past an untold number of law enforcement officers who lined up to salute the fallen agent. The Navy veteran and married father of three had only just become a parole agent nine months ago, after a decade working as a corrections officer at a state hospital in Vacaville.

In a statement hours after the agent’s death, Gov. Gavin Newsom called Byrd’s death “a heartbreaking loss.” State prisons chief Jeff Macomber lauded Byrd’s “bravery and dedication,” while adding that “our hearts are heavy.”

“Agent Byrd served with integrity and courage — and we’re forever grateful,” the statement said. “We are keeping his family in our prayers and we join the men and women of CDCR in mourning this tragedy.”

A motive for the shooting remained unclear Friday, as did the question of whether Byrd was the alleged gunman’s personal parole agent. Hall appeared to use a gun he brought to the facility, according to the California Highway Patrol — raising questions about security measures at a building where parolees routinely check in with their parole officers.

Highway Patrol detectives spent Friday interviewing Hall and trying to piece together his alleged actions after the shooting, including unconfirmed reports that he may have robbed someone on an AC Transit bus after he fled the parole office, and whether he stole an idling vehicle before his arrest.

On Friday morning, a handwritten sign posted on the doors of the Division of Adult Parole Operations office on Edgewater Drive said the building was “closed until further notice,” while recommending people contact a parole office in Concord for assistance.

As investigators interviewed witnesses, more details surfaced about the man accused of killing the agent.

Court records show Hall has faced numerous arrests over the past 30 years across Northern California, including in Alameda, Contra Costa and Stanislaus counties. Most recently, he was sentenced Feb. 5 in the 2022 stabbing of a man in Oakland’s Lakeshore retail area.

The stabbing happened around 11:20 a.m. the morning of Nov. 21, 2022, in the 3200 block of Lakeshore Avenue, in one of the city’s busiest commercial areas. Witnesses claimed he attacked a man completely at random, plunging a knife into his lower neck before fleeing, according to court testimony.

One person saw Hall panhandling before the attack, while another person said Hall approached his vehicle and spoke incoherently. Everyone who saw the encounter said that Hall appeared to be talking to himself in the moments beforehand, court records show.

Oakland police quickly arrested Hall, and he was charged with attempted murder.

At a key evidentiary hearing in November 2024, Hall’s public defender raised serious concerns about the man’s well-being, suggesting the attack was “likely driven by some sort of mental health issues.” Even so, Alameda County Judge Thomas Reardon said enough evidence existed to send the case to trial.

In January, Hall accepted a plea deal in the case that called for him to plead no contest to felony assault with a deadly weapon, in exchange for all of the other charges being dropped, court records show. He was expected to be sentenced to four years in state prison, and he could shave off half of that prison sentence with good behavior.

Since Hall had already spent more than two years at Santa Rita Jail awaiting trial on the charges, he was expected to be released the day of his sentencing, Judge Thomas Nixon said at the plea hearing.

The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation confirmed Friday that Hall was released on parole Feb. 5, the day of his sentencing. Defendants in such cases typically spend two years on parole, according to state sentencing guidelines.

It remained unclear Friday whether Byrd and Hall previously interacted. It was also not immediately clear where Hall had been living, and what types of services he had been receiving while on parole.

He had a checkered past as a parolee in California. In 2015, a judge revoked Hall’s parole from a drug case after an Alameda County sheriff’s deputy pulled Hall over and, in the process, allegedly found him with heroin, according to court records.

Hall has faced numerous other charges in previous incidents. He was convicted of second-degree robbery in Alameda County in 1996, and assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury, unlawful taking of a vehicle and evading police in Stanislaus County in November 2017. Other convictions include vehicle theft and possession of a firearm by a felon.

Byrd was relatively new to his role as a parole agent. He joined the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in 2014 and was promoted to correctional sergeant in 2020, according to the state’s corrections department. He became a parole agent in October 2024, after working at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville.

On Thursday, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association said Byrd’s life reflected a “steadfast dedication to public safety and the highest standards of our profession.”

“His passing is a profound loss for his family, his colleagues, and the entire public safety community,” association president Neil Flood said in a statement. He added that the “tragic loss is a painful reminder of the real dangers our members face each day, whether inside facilities or in communities throughout the state.”

Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com.