Read it, Know it, Live it.
Posted on 05/16/2008 3:59:44 PM PDT by wac3rd
A gang suspect already facing a murder charge soon may face another after San Pablo police identified him as the triggerman in a fatal February shooting.
Contra Costa County prosecutors filed homicide and conspiracy charges Friday against three men arrested this week by detectives, and they contemplate similar charges for three others, including 20-year-old Jorge Camacho.
Camacho, who awaits trial in connection with the Feb. 27 shooting death of a homeless woman who was struck by a stray bullet, also fired the shots that killed Luis Perez on Feb. 16, San Pablo police Detective Mike Gancasz said.
Police say Camacho used the same handgun to kill the 27-year-old father as he smoked in front of a 15th Street apartment. His crime: wearing a red shirt, which caused a group of gang members to mistake him for a rival.
"These guys were on a killing rampage," Detective Mike Gancasz said. "And the people they killed had nothing to do with gangs."
Police served search warrants Thursday in San Pablo, Richmond, Pinole and Novato and arrested five other men in connection with Perez's death; two are already in jail awaiting adjudication of other criminal cases.
All belong to the same Latino gang that police link to four of San Pablo's six killings this year, Gancasz said.
Perez, the father of a 2-year-old girl, stood outside an apartment on the 2900 block of 15th about 2:15 a.m. Feb. 16 when a group of at least six men rolled past in a car.
"(Camacho) got out of the car and demanded to see his tattoos. He wanted to see if he belonged to a rival gang. The victim said, 'I don't know what's going on,'" Gancasz said. "So Camacho shot him nine times."
Others arrested Thursday in connection with the homicide include Luis Hernandez, 20, found during a search of a house on the 1400 block of Collins Avenue in San Pablo; Larry Valencia, 20, at a house on Serra Drive in Pinole; and 20-year-old Cole Azamar, who surrendered at the Police Department.
Tom Kensok, deputy Contra Costa district attorney, filed charges of murder and conspiracy against all three Friday.
Two others still in jail from previous arrests also were implicated, Gancasz said: Hector Betances, 20, arrested by San Pablo police in February on suspicion of the Dec. 22, 2007, slaying of 15-year-old Anthony Citron; and Jose Mota, 20, arrested May 3 in connection with the Perez case.
They and Camacho were not charged Friday, Kensok said, but all remain in custody while prosecutors consider charges.
Officers also searched houses on South 35th Street in Richmond and on Tinker Way in Novato, seizing a shotgun, ammunition and gang paraphernalia, Gancasz said.
Forensic firearms analysis shows that the same weapon that killed Perez also fired the round that killed 47-year-old Lisa Phayer, a homeless woman who stepped out of a liquor store and into the path of a bullet near the corner of San Pablo Avenue and Road 20 on Feb. 27.
Police chased and arrested Camacho, whom they say fired the rounds at a passing sport utility vehicle a half-block north of Phayer. Camacho faces a homicide charge in that case.
Three other suspects face charges in the April 26 shooting of Rico McIntosh, a man walking home from a party near the corner of 14th Street and Lake Avenue when a carload of men demanded he identify his gang affiliation.
McIntosh didn't understand the question, so police say an 18-year-old shot him. He died from his injuries a few days later.
San Pablo police have identified two members of the same gang faction with the Jan. 26 killing of Jose Mendoza Lopez on the 1800 block of Powell Avenue. The suspects likely misidentified the victim as a rival gang member because of his red clothing, detectives said at the time.
Read it, Know it, Live it.
They’re only committing the mad-dog murders that... oh, you know the rest.
Some day Americans will have had enough. I hope that day comes soon.
The solution is obvious. We need to take more guns away from law abiding citizens! (/sarc)
Hard to believe I went to grammar school on Road 20 for 5 years (1951-1955); and on San Pablo Avenue 1 year, before leaving the Barf Area. Such a great place to be from...FAR from.
This reads like it would have/could have/should have happened in Mexico. Oh wait, we have surrendered the United States to the great citizens of Mexico.
Nevermind.
Thank you. That's the next book I'm buying....
Matt..your book is listed on the same page as this one. *Hint* Don't you think it's time for another? :)
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Amazon's "people who bought X also bought Y" feature is really terrific. I don't consider those other books (such as UC) to be competition, but a form of mutual marketing.
Since we all want the same end result...I don't doubt that at all..
It’s sort of becoming its own mini-genre.
WHY are you not working on that next book?????
Huh?
:)
I know...I’m about 60% finished, and like a large puzzle, it goes faster as you get to the end.
Time's a wasting......
:)
I know...
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