A man fatally shot in Oakland last week was a security guard who was working at a cabin community for unhoused residents when he was killed.

Barry Murphy, 37, was found Thursday night in the 3400 block of Mandela Parkway in West Oakland and pronounced dead at the scene, according to police, who identified him Tuesday. The security guard was in his car outside the cabin site when he was killed, according to Barry Donelan, president of the Oakland Police Officers’ Association.

A spokeswoman for the city confirmed a security guard at the Mandela Community Cabins had been killed outside the property, and called the act “tragic and senseless.”

“We offer our heartfelt condolences to family and loved ones, the residents of the Mandela Community Cabins who experienced this traumatic event, and the contracted security service team who have lost a colleague,” spokeswoman Karen Boyd wrote in an emailed statement.

No arrests have been made.

Mandela Community Cabins are a cluster of rudimentary tiny homes that provide temporary shelter to dozens of unhoused people and give them an alternative to living in encampments. Oakland has set up several such sites over the past few years as a way to manage the city’s homelessness crisis. The idea is that occupants will stay in the cabins for a few months, while case managers help them get back on their feet and find long-term housing.

The Mandela Parkway site opened in 2019 to serve 76 people.

Dontashia Brooks, Murphy’s sister, said her brother was a good person who “didn’t bother anyone.” He was a great cook and a “sneakerhead” who had loved shoes ever since they were kids, she said. Family was important to him, and he took care of their grandmother at the end of her life.

Monday would have been Murphy’s 38th birthday.

“It is extremely difficult,” Brooks said.

Operation Dignity, an Oakland-based nonprofit that manages the Mandela cabin site, has made grief counselors available to residents and staff in the wake of Thursday’s homicide, according to Boyd. Marguerite Bachand, executive director of Operation Dignity, did not respond to a request for comment.

Murphy worked for Oakland-based security company ABC Security Services, which contracted with the Mandela cabin program, Donelan said. He was working as the overnight guard when he was shot.

ABC Security declined to comment.

Harold Ester Jr., who lives in one of the Mandela Parkway cabins with his girlfriend, said he was sleeping when the shooting happened. The next morning, he found out a guard had been killed.

He saw Murphy on duty all the time, but didn’t know his name. There are typically two or three security guards working at one time, he said.

“He was kind of quiet,” Ester said, “so it’s kind of shocking to me that that happened.”

The shooting marks the latest challenge faced by Oakland’s homeless housing programs. Last month, a fire broke out in a village of tiny homes for unhoused residents near Lake Merritt. Three of the tiny homes, which were made by a Washington-based company called Pallet, were destroyed. The city is investigating what happened.

Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are offering up to $10,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrest of Murphy’s killer. Anyone with information may call police at 510-238-3821 or 510-238-7950 or Crime Stoppers at 510-777-8572.