OAKLAND — A brawl between two groups of men early Saturday outside a restaurant near the Oakland Coliseum left one participant shot to death, police said.

Killed was Michael Culpepper, 31, of Oakland. It was the second murder in Oakland in 12 hours.

The shooting happened about 3:25 a.m. in the parking lot area of the Denny's restaurant at Hegenberger Road and Collins Drive, police said.

Sgt. Tim Nolan said Culpepper was in a group of three or four men and one of them got into a fight with a man from another group about the same size.

Nolan said the fight "kept escalating and getting more violent and then everybody got involved."

Someone from the other group started shooting and Culpepper was hit. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Nolan said he and his partner, Sgt. Derwin Longmire, aren't sure yet what started the fight, but from what they have heard so far, "it did not seem like it was over anything serious."

He said the fight and shooting were witnessed by "a lot of people" who did not stick around to talk to police.

Police on Saturday also identified a man shot to death Friday night on the 3300 block of 68th Avenue as Ronald Mack, 26, of Oakland.

Mack was shot several times about 6:15 p.m. by a man firing at him from just a few feet away.

Police are not sure of a motive, but Nolan said "there is no doubt whatsoever (the shots) were meant for him." Mack was pronounced dead at the scene at 6:31 p.m.

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Nolan said Mack lived a few miles away, but may have had a girlfriend in the area. He was still holding a strawberry milkshake when he was found that had been purchased from a fast food restaurant at nearby Eastmont Mall, Nolan said.

The two killings, which police said are not related, brought the number of homicides in the city for 2006 to 120, the highest number since 1995 when 153 people were killed. Oakland's all-time high for homicides is 175 in 1992.

Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are offering up to

$10,000 in reward money in each case for information leading to the arrest of the suspects. Anyone with information can call police at 238-3821 or Crime Stoppers at 238-6946.