New testimony forces shooter to plead guilty to 2010 murder

 

A murder trial that exposed limits to the "don't snitch" mentality that permeates Yakima street gangs ended abruptly with a surprise plea deal. Tomas Villegas, 27, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the March 2010 shooting of David Duarte, the 40-year-old uncle of a gang member. Authorities believe the gang member was the actual target. As part of the deal, lawyers on both sides agreed to a recommended sentence near the top of the range of 26 1/2 years in prison. Sentencing was set for April 13. He was facing a charge of aggravated first-degree murder, which carries a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole. The plea came late Monday afternoon while the trial was in recess and the jury had been sent home for the day. The deal, which the judge must still approve, concluded a series of actions that began when another suspect in the case, Sergio Villalobos Losoya, 24, reached a plea bargain of his own with prosecutors in exchange for testifying against Villegas. That testimony was critical, as it undercut Villegas' claims that he was not involved in the shooting and that he had alibi witnesses to prove it. Deputy prosecutor Troy Clements expressed relief at the case's sudden resolution, saying gang crimes in general and this case in particular pose many challenges. With Villalobos suddenly willing to cut a deal, there were rumors of threats against his family. A juror was excused over fears of gang intimidation. At least three gang members were jailed as material witnesses to ensure their testimony. "Retaliation was a fear for a lot of people in this," Clements said. "The anti-snitch mentality is very powerful -- for both sides. There's a powerful code of silence out there." Duarte, 40, died from a massive gunshot wound to the head as he was riding in his 15-year-old nephew's car on 16th Avenue near Mead Avenue. Prosecutors said the shooting was the culmination of bad blood between two Norteo gangs -- North Side Villains (NSV) and La Raza -- stemming from the murder of La Raza member Leonardo A. Perez in 2009. Villegas, despite belonging to a Sureo gang called the Pot Head Society, prosecutors said he was friends with Perez and intent on retaliating against NSV enemies if given the chance. That chance occurred just before midnight on March 5, 2010, when Duarte and his nephew, NSV member Cristino Tejada, stopped to buy snacks at the am/pm gas station on the corner of South 16th and Washington avenues. Tejada told police he encountered rival gang members in a white Cadillac at the gas station and that someone in the Cadillac opened fire on his car as they raced down 16th Avenue, fatally wounding his uncle. Clements acknowledged Tuesday that his mostly circumstantial case against Villegas got a huge boost when Villalobos, the alleged driver of the Cadillac, and another person who was allegedly in the suspect car agreed to turn state's evidence. "We went from the fear (Villegas) was going to walk, to holding somebody responsible, so heck yeah you feel good about that," he said. Villegas' attorney, public defender Jeff Swan, said he'd been confident he could win the case until the sudden witness tilt in the prosecution's favor. He said the prosecution's deal with Villalobos was 20 months for a plea to drive-by shooting. Villalobos had been charged with first-degree murder.

Man Mistaken For Gang Member Survives AK-47 Drive-By

A man was relaxing in his living room early this morning when AK-47 bullets riddled the walls and windows of his Chesterfield Square area home. Apparently, the man's house, located at 5740 Cimarron Street, was mistaken for a gang member's home, resulting in a very unexpected drive-by assault weapon shooting at 3:43am. "The victim was in his living room when shots were fired into his house from an AK-47," Officer Roger Aguirre of the LAPD's 77th Street Station told City News Service. "He was not a gang member; they just mistook the house." Officers recovered 12 bullet casings from the home, but the man was unharmed.

Pink beach cruiser connects alleged gang member to fatal shootings, police say

 

An alleged gang member was ordered to stand trial on two counts of murder for allegedly shooting a 22-month-old boy and the toddler's uncle while riding a pink beach cruiser in May 2011. According to CBS Los Angeles, 19-year-old Davion McClelland opened fire on two men, one of whom is a documented member of a rival gang in South Los Angeles. Authorities say the shots fired missed their intended targets, and fatally hit Joshua Montes and his uncle, Josefat Canchola, outside their home. During testimony in a preliminary hearing for McClelland, one of his alleged targets testified that he and his friend were walking down the street when two young black men riding bikes and wearing hooded sweatshirts passed them. "One of (the bikes) was like a beach cruiser," Michael Smith said. According to Smith, one of the bicyclists made a gang "call," and as he and his friend continued walking, "I turned around. The next thing I know, I'm being shot at." Two other witnesses testified that they saw two suspects riding away from the scene of the shootings, one of them on a pink beach cruiser. Both of them had previously identified McClelland from a photo lineup as one of the suspects. Video surveillance recovered from a nearby business also showed the beach cruiser. Police traced the bicycle to the nearby Pueblo del Rio housing project in the territory of the gang to which McClelland allegedly belongs. LAPD Officer Brandon Barron, a gang expert, testified that the two gangs involved in the shooting have been feuding since the 1980s. He said McClelland has three tattoos identifying him as a gang member. Judge Mary Lou Villar found sufficient evidence at the preliminary hearing to send McClelland to trial. Prosecutors have yet to decide whether to seek the death penalty.

Fatal shooting in Santa Ana may be gang-related

 

Santa Ana police are investigating the fatal shooting of a 20-year-old man that is believed to be gang-related. Mario Carlos Hernandez of Santa Ana was gunned down Monday evening at approximately 6:30 p.m., according to police. Officers responded to the apartment complex, located at 215 E. 15th St., on a call saying shots had been fired and a man had been wounded. They found a 20-year-old man who had  gunshot wounds in the upper body.  Santa Ana Fire Department paramedics took the man to a local hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. Detectives said Tuesday that the incident is believed to be gang-related and that the department's gang detail unit is investigating.

Alleged gangster blasts shotgun during fight

 

36-year-old man was arrested Thursday for allegedly firing a shotgun several times at two other men he was fighting with. Oscar Samuel Galindo was fighting around 8:30 a.m. with the men on the 2200 block of Nelson Street in northeast Bakersfield, Kern County deputies said. He went home and allegedly grabbed his gun, returned to the scene of the fight, and shot at the men. No on was hit by the shotgun blasts. Galindo was later located and arrested on suspicion of assault, gang participation and a variety of other offenses.

Taliban fire at delegates visiting Afghan massacre site

 

Taliban militants opened fire on an Afghan government delegation visiting one of the two villages in southern Afghanistan where a US soldier is suspected of killing 16 Afghan civilians. The delegation was talking with families of the victims in Balandi village on Tuesday when they heard shooting, said Qayum Karzai, a brother of the Afghan president who was part of the group. He said he did not believe anyone was killed in the attack, but he had heard reports of one person wounded in the foot. "We were giving them our condolences, then we heard two very, very light shots," said Karzai. "Then we assumed that it was the national army that started to fire in the air." He said that the members of the delegation were safe and were heading back to Kandahar city. An Associated Press reporter accompanying the delegation said the gunfire came from two different directions. The US is holding an army staff sergeant in custody who is suspected of carrying out the killings before dawn on Sunday in two villages close to his base in Kandahar province's Panjwai district, considered the birthplace of the Taliban. Villagers have described him stalking from house to house in the middle of the night, opening fire on sleeping families and then burning some of the bodies. Nine of the 16 killed were children, and three were women, according to Karzai. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid vowed to take revenge for the attack in a statement sent to reporters on Tuesday. He said the soldier should be tried as a war criminal and executed by the victims' relatives. Also on Tuesday, hundreds of students in eastern Afghanistan shouted angry slogans against the US and the American soldier accused of carrying out the killings, the first significant protest in response to the tragedy. The killings have caused outrage in Afghanistan but have not sparked the kind of violent protests seen last month after American soldiers burned Muslim holy books and other Islamic texts. Afghans have become used to dealing with civilian casualties in over a decade of war. Some have said the deaths in Panjwai were more in keeping with Afghans' experience of deadly night raids and air strikes by US-led forces than the Qur'an burnings were. But the students protesting at a university in Jalalabad city, 80 miles east of the capital Kabul, were incensed. "Death to America!" and "Death to the soldier who killed our civilians!" shouted the crowd. Some carried a banner that called for a public trial of the soldier, whom US officials have identified as a married, 38-year-old father of two who was trained as a sniper and recently suffered a head injury in Iraq. Other protesters burned an effigy of Barack Obama. "The reason we are protesting is because of the killing of innocent children and other civilians by this tyrant US soldier," said Sardar Wali, a university student. "We want the United Nations and the Afghan government to publicly try this guy." Obama has expressed his shock and sadness and extended his condolences to the families of the victims. But he has also said the horrific episode would not speed up plans to pull out foreign forces, despite increasing opposition at home to the war in Afghanistan.

US soldier has killed 16 Afghan civilians, including nine children,

A US soldier has killed 16 Afghan civilians, including nine children, after entering their homes in Kandahar. Sky sources said the Afghan victims also included women and elderly men. Minister of Border and Tribal Affairs Asadullah Khalid, who is investigating the incident, said the soldier entered three homes, killing 11 people in the first one. The Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) coalition confirmed the incident but did not release the number of killed or injured. Sky defence reporter Mark Stone said: "Details are still sketchy and various death tolls have emerged. "It appears to be an isolated incident and the soldier is believed to have been a staff sergeant." Isaf Deputy Commander Lt Gen Adrian Bradshaw said: "I wish to convey my profound regrets and dismay at the actions apparently taken by one coalition member in Kandahar province. "I cannot explain the motivation behind such callous acts, but they were in no way part of authorised ISAF military activity." According to the Panjwai district governor office, seven people died and up to 17 injured were injured in the rampage. The injured have been treated for their wounds at Nato medical facilities. Protests were held over the Koran-burning incident The US embassy in Kabul attempted to quell expected Afghan unrest by also issuing an apology. It said: "We deplore any attack by a member of the US armed forces against innocent civilians, and denounce all violence against civilians. "We assure the people of Afghanistan that the individual or individuals responsible for this act will be identified and brought to justice." The diplomatic response comes after weeks of tense relations between US forces and their Afghan hosts following the burning of Korans and other religious materials at an American base. Although US officials apologised and said the burning was an accident, the incident sparked violent protests and attacks. Britain also pulled out civilian advisers from buildings in Kabul as protests spread. Six American soldiers have been killed in attacks by their Afghan colleagues since the Koran burnings came to light.

United States service member walked out of a military base in a rural district of southern Afghanistan on Sunday and opened fire on three nearby houses, killing at least 15 civilians

 

United States service member walked out of a military base in a rural district of southern Afghanistan on Sunday and opened fire on three nearby houses, killing at least 15 civilians, local villagers and provincial officials said. Related Security Fears Lead Groups to Rethink Work in Afghanistan (March 11, 2012) U.S. and Afghanistan Agree on Prisoner Transfer as Part of Long-Term Agreement (March 10, 2012) Afghan Officer Sought in Killing of 9 Colleagues (March 9, 2012) Connect With Us on Twitter Follow @nytimesworld for international breaking news and headlines. Twitter List: Reporters and Editors Readers’ Comments Share your thoughts. Post a Comment » Read All Comments (1) » The shooting risks further inciting anti-American sentiment in Afghanistan and troubling a relationship that had already been brought to a new low by the burning of Korans at an American military base last month. The American embassy in Afghanistan quickly issued a statement on Sunday urging calm. The NATO-led coalition said in a statement on Sunday that a United States service member had been detained after an incident in Kandahar Province, in the south of the country, and that a number of civilians had been killed. Villagers in Belandi in the Panjway district of Kandahar, where the shooting took place, said the service member had attacked three houses, killing 11 people in one house and four in a second home. Five other villagers were wounded, they said. Panjway, a rural suburb of Kandahar, was traditionally a Taliban stronghold. It was a focus of the United States surge in 2010 and was the scene of heavy fighting. The governor of Kandahar Province, Tooryalai Wesa, condemned the shooting, although he could not immediately confirm the number of people killed. A coalition spokesman in Kabul, Capt. Justin Brockhoff, said that it was not clear what had led to the incident. He said the civilians wounded in the shooting were taken to a coalition hospital where they were being treated. One of the houses attacked in the village belonged to a tribal elder, according to a person from the village. “We don’t know why he killed people,” said the villager, Aminullah, who like many Afghans goes by a single name. Aminullah said the soldier was alone. “There was no fighting or attacks.” In the statement, the United States military raced to head off Afghan outrage. “This is a deeply regrettable incident and we extend our thoughts and concerns to the families involved,” the statement said. It went on to say that American forces, in cooperation with the Afghan authorities, would investigate the incident. In its comments, the American Embassy also sought to ease tensions, offering “its deepest condolences to the families of the victims of today’s tragic shooting.” “We are saddened by this violent act against our Afghan friends,” the statement said. In a separate incident, four Afghans were killed and three wounded on Friday when coalition helicopters apparently hunting Taliban insurgents fired instead on villagers in Kapisa province in eastern Afghanistan, according to Abdul Hakim Akhondzada, governor of Tagab district in Kapisa. Last month, the burning of the Korans touched off nationwide rioting and increased the targeting of American troops, resulting in at least 29 Afghans dead and 6 American soldiers killed. The results of the official military inquiry into the Koran burnings are still awaited, including any decision on what kind of disciplinary action may be faced by the American service members identified as being directly linked to the incident. The upheaval provoked by the Koran burnings put a temporary halt to cooperation between the Afghans and Americans, and disrupted planning for the military withdrawal. But relations seemed somewhat back on track after the two governments on Friday broke an impasse on a long-term strategic partnership deal by agreeing for the Afghans to assume control of the main coalition prison in six months. In another incident in January, American officials had to contend with the fallout from a video that showed four United States Marines urinating on the corpses of what appeared to be the corpses of three Taliban members. In 2010, a rogue group of American soldiers, whose members patrolled roads and small villages, also near Kandahar, killed three Afghan civilians for sport in a series of crimes. The soldier accused of being the ringleader of the group was convicted of three counts of murder by an American military panel in November.

2 Dead At Jacksonville High School

 

A man who was fired from a private school on Tuesday returned to campus with a gun hidden in a guitar case and shot the headmistress to death before committing suicide, authorities said. No students were injured. Officers responded to the Episcopal School of Jacksonville at 1:23 p.m. Tuesday after receiving reports of a person with a gun, and the school was placed on lockdown. When officers arrived, Dale Regan, head of the school, and the gunman were found dead, Undersheriff Dwain Senterfitt said. The gunman has not been identified. Episcopal has about 900 students in grades 6-12. Its campus sits along the south bank of the St. Johns River in central Jacksonville. Regan began working as a teacher at the school in 1978, according to a profile published in The Florida Times Union in 2010. She later went on to become the first female to hold the school's top position. In 2011, Regan was honored for her accomplishments with the newspaper's EVE Award for Education. She was recognized for her work in opening two new classrooms at the school that utilize new technology and are designed to foster innovation in teaching.

13 Hurt In Shooting At Tempe, Arizona Club

An altercation outside a night club in suburban Phoenix erupted in shooting, leaving 13 people wounding including two in serious condition, police said Saturday. Two young men were suspected in the gunfire that occurred shortly before midnight Friday in the parking of The Clubhouse, located about 7 miles east of downtown Phoenix. Tempe Sgt. Steve Carbajal said at least two of the injured were hospitalized in serious condition, while the others were treated for wounds that appeared less severe. But he said some of the injured drove themselves to the various hospitals in the area so police aren't sure if there were other victims besides the 13. Police are hunting the suspects, described as black men wearing dark clothing, who fled from the club on East Broadway Road on foot. Carbajal described the shooting as the result of "some sort of altercation" at the club, where a rap music concert was going on. He didn't have immediate details on the altercation, a motive, if both suspects fired weapons or on the type of guns used. The website for the club says it's been in operation for six years hosting music shows for all age groups nightly. Calls to the club went unanswered early Saturday.   Print  Email  Share  Comments