Oscar Grant Shooter Johannes Mehserle Arrested.

BART police officer Johannes Mehserle has been arrested in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Mehserle is charged with the murder of Oscar Grant.

Johannes Mehserle, the BART cop who shot and killed an unarmed man in Oakland on New Year's Day, sat behind bars in a Bay Area jail on Wednesday night, charged with murder.

Appearing in a Nevada court Wednesday, Mehserle waived extradition and returned to the Bay Area, where he was taken to Santa Rita Jail on the murder charge — a rare filing against a police officer — that was announced by Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff.

It is uncertain whether the final charge will be first or second degree murder. Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff's statement leans toward a first degree murder charge.

"At this point, what I feel the evidence indicates is an unlawful killing done by an intentional act and from the evidence we have there is nothing that would mitigate that to something lower than a murder," Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff said.

Orloff told the San Francisco Chronicle there is video footage that did not get posted on the internet.

"The videos are very powerful on what act was committed," the district attorney said. "The issue likely to be in this case is, what was the mental state at the time that act was committed?"

The scene in Oakland is getting ugly. Mehserle's received a bomb threat. There is more vandalism from protesters. Oscar Grant's death will be felt, in the community, long after the trial verdict.