OAKLAND, Calif. -- A man was gunned down on the streets of Oakland late Monday, the 21st person killed in the East Bay city over the first 43 days of 2008 -- nearly double the 12 homicides at this time last year.

The deadly surge has forced Oakland police chief Wayne Tucker to take several drastic steps. He reportedly was ready to ask city officials for $7.7 million to fund 60 additional officers to patrol the streets. Over the weekend, the police also staged a gun buy-back program.

Officials believed they may get some 300 weapons turned in for cash. Instead more than 1,000 weapons were turned in as lines stretched for several blocks. The size of the crowd drained the police coffers and IOUs had to be handed out.

Now the cash-strapped department is reportedly on the hook for $170,000.

Oakland police spokesman Roland Holmgren said many in the crowd were not even from Oakland.

There were some people who took advantage of the system," Holmgren told the Oakland Tribune. "We didn't expect to have people come from Reno. Some were gun dealers who couldn't get rid of them any other way. They came in with 30 or 50 guns, and some still had price tags on them, like $35. Who else has that many guns?"

The latest Oakland homicide took place at around 8 p.m. Monday. A driver was traveling in the 950 block of 37th Avenue when a suspect walking nearby fired shots at the vehicle. The driver was struck with bullets and died, according to police.

No suspects have been taken into custody in the shooting.

The slaying comes after a weekend that saw six people killed in 10 shooting incidents and a popular college instructor killed at his Oakland Hills home.

Sunday's violence began shortly after 11 p.m. when police responded to the 2200 block of 64th Avenue to investigate a report that a man had been shot.

Authorities said they found Dwane Lidell Walker, 51, of Oakland, suffering from four gunshot wounds that claimed his life. No suspects were in custody for the shooting nor was there a known motive.

Just after midnight Monday the body of Sedric Dennis, 42, of Oakland, was discovered in a parking lot. He had suffered several gunshot wounds. At 12:38 a.m., officers responded to the Quik Stop convenience store at 2400 Fruitvale Ave. and found Romeo Mendez-Martin, 28, of Oakland -- a victim of an apparent robbery attempt -- suffering from a fatal gunshot wound.

There were no suspects in custody in either case.

The highest profile slaying of the weekend was that of Bay Area college instructor John Alfred Dennis Jr., 59, in his Oakland Hills home on Saturday.

Troy Thomas, 43, was arrested and reportedly has confessed to the crime. He knew Dennis from an inner-city mentoring program.

Thomas was arrested late Saturday when a San Mateo County sheriff's deputy walked up to his car and asked what he was doing at Montara State Beach after 11 p.m. The deputy noticed an arm protruding from underneath a covering in the backseat and discovered Dennis' body.

When police ran the registration of the car, they found it belonged to Dennis. Thomas was arrested and a search of Dennis' Oakland Hills home revealed blood evidence of a violent struggle. Police believe that the popular teacher was killed there -- one of seven people killed in Oakland in unrelated incidents over the weekend.

"There was blood evidence," Joyner told the paper. "There was biological evidence. There was physical evidence."

Dennis was a popular teacher at both St. Mary's College in Moraga and the City College of San Francisco. On the St Mary's campus Monday, the room where Dennis' class on death and dying was to meet for the first time of the new semester was empty.