Another law enforcement officer gun stolen, this time in Oakland

A Hayward police officer’s gun was stolen during a car burglary in Oakland’s Fruitvale District on Wednesday, marking at least the third such theft in the Bay Area in recent months, authorities said.

The latest incident was reported about 10 a.m. when members of an unspecified law enforcement task force informed Oakland police that an officer’s duty weapon had been stolen from a car parked near a Starbucks at the Fruitvale Station shopping center on the 3000 block of East Ninth Street.

Police, including officers in unmarked vehicles, were searching the area for any signs of the thieves or the gun. Officers were told to be on the lookout for a .40-caliber SIG Sauer P226, four magazines, an iPad and other items, including Hayward police identification.

Hayward police declined to release information about the officer.

In July 2014, thieves broke into a KPIX news van in the same parking lot and stole personal items.

On Friday, a loaded .40-caliber SIG Sauer P239 handgun, badge and ammunition belonging to UC Berkeley Police Chief Margo Bennett were stolen from her unmarked Ford Escape as she went for a jog before work at the Point Isabel Regional Shoreline in Richmond.

In July, a gun stolen from the car of a federal Bureau of Land Management agent was allegedly used to kill Kathryn Steinle on Pier 14 in San Francisco. The case sparked a national debate over sanctuary-city laws because the alleged shooter had been released from San Francisco jail even though federal immigration agents wanted to deport him.

Henry K. Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: hlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @henryklee