OAKLAND — Alameda County prosecutors have dismissed the murder case against a Hayward security guard who shot and killed a nightclub attendee minutes after staff kicked him out of the establishment, court records show.
Omar Garrett, 24, of Oakland, has been facing murder charges since May 2022, when he killed Joseph Cornelison outside of a club on the 400 block of A Street in Hayward. Garrett was arrested May 14, the same night as the shooting, but spent a total of 11 days in jail because his lawyer convinced a judge to release him without bail, court records show.
Prosecutors moved to dismiss the case at an August court hearing. Garrett’s lawyer, Darryl Stallworth, said his client was “ambushed” and attacked by the unarmed Cornelison, who knocked Garrett to the ground and began pummeling him after a different staff member ejected Cornelison from the club.
Garrett fired his pistol multiple times, then called 911 to report the shooting, Hayward police said at the time. Stallworth said he was not surprised his client essentially called the police on himself.
“He was a security guard with a licensed weapon. He called it in just as he normally would,” Stallworth said. “He happened to be the person who was assaulted and he was defending his own life.”
Garrett has no criminal history, and owned his own security business, according to court records. Stallworth said he’d been in “ongoing” discussions with prosecutors about dropping the case for “well over a year” before the case was thrown out.