- Motorcyclist killed in gang-related incident possibly linked to Huntsville deadly shooting, Montgomery County deputies say KTRK-TV
- 3 dead in highway shootings involving outlaw motorcycle gang members in Southeast Texas, authorities say CNN
- 3 motorcyclists shot & killed along I-45, 2 injured KPRC 2 Click2Houston
- I-45 motorcycle shooting: 3 killed, 2 injured between separate biker gang-related scenes in Huntsville, Montgomery County, Texas KTRK-TV
- Three Texas motorcyclists killed in separate shootings with alleged gang ties NBC News
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Tag Archives: gangrelated
Iowa Shooting That Left Two Dead Was Likely Gang-Related, Des Moines Police Say
Police are investigating a possible gang-related motive after two students were shot dead at an Iowa education center for at-risk youth.
Two male students, 18 years old and 16 years old, were fatally shot when a suspect pulled out a 9mm handgun and began firing just before 1 p.m. local time, a spokesperson for Des Moines Police said.
The gunfire broke out inside a common area used by the Starts Right Here education program in Des Moines. The organization’s president and founder
William Holmes,
a rapper who performs under the name Will Keeps, was injured in the shooting and remains hospitalized in a serious condition.
“The incident was definitely targeted, it was not random. There was nothing random about this,” Sgt.
Paul Parizek
said.
Mr. Walls and the two student victims were affiliated with rival gangs, he added.
Police later charged 18-year-old Des Moines resident Preston Walls with two counts of first-degree murder, along with attempted murder and gang participation. It was not clear who was serving as Mr. Walls’s attorney.
Two other suspects remain in custody.
First responders performed CPR on the victims found at the scene, according to Mr. Parizek. The students were brought to a local hospital but couldn’t be saved, he said.
The Des Moines incident comes after a mass shooting in California over the weekend left 11 people dead and another nine injured. Police are looking at a troubled romantic relationship as a possible motive for the state’s deadliest mass shooting in years. Also over the weekend, a nightclub shooting in Baton Rouge, La., injured over 10.
Des Moines police said Mr. Walls entered a common area at the Starts Right Here building where all three victims were. Mr. Holmes attempted to escort him from the area when Mr. Walls pulled away and began to shoot, Des Moines police said.
Police responding to reports of gunfire saw a suspicious vehicle leaving the area. The automobile was pulled over about 20 minutes later, roughly 2 miles from the education center, police said.
Two other people stayed in the car while Mr. Walls ran from the vehicle. A police dog helped track him down, Mr. Parizek said. Mr. Walls was taken into custody and a 9mm handgun was found nearby. Its ammunition magazine had a capacity of 31 rounds and contained three, police said.
The Starts Right Here website said it works with at-risk youth in the Des Moines Public Schools. The nonprofit has Des Moines Police Department Chief
Dana Wingert
on its board of directors and Iowa Gov.
Kim Reynolds
on its advisory board.
“I’ve seen first-hand how hard Will Keeps and his staff work to help at-risk kids through this alternative education program. My heart breaks for them, these kids and their families,” Ms. Reynolds, a Republican, said in a statement.
Mr. Parizek said the program deals with children “with a variety of challenges, some that many of us can’t wrap our brain around.”
Write to Talal Ansari at talal.ansari@wsj.com
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Appeared in the January 24, 2023, print edition as ‘Shooting Kills Two Students In Iowa.’
Atlanta Falcons’ Calvin Ridley among targets of gang-related celebrity home robberies, according to indictment
A prosecutor on Monday announced a sprawling indictment targeting members of what she said is a violent street gang that has been targeting the Atlanta-area homes of famous athletes — including Falcons wide receiver Calvin Ridley — entertainers and others who flaunt expensive possessions on social media.
Ridley, singer Mariah Carey, Atlanta United goalkeeper Brad Guzan and Marlo Hampton of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” all had their homes broken into, the indictment says.
The 220-count indictment was filed Aug. 22 and charges 26 people, most of whom are accused of violating Georgia’s anti-gang and racketeering laws.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said the crimes alleged in the indictment — carjacking, kidnapping, armed robbery, shootings, home invasions — were committed by members of the Drug Rich gang, which she said began to emerge in 2016 in a neighboring county. In addition to the celebrity targets, social media influencers were also victimized in home invasions and burglaries, Willis said.
“What they do is target people who show their wealth on social media,” she said. “So I do have a message for the public: Where it is kind of fun to put your things on social media and show off, unfortunately these gangs are becoming more savvy, more sophisticated in the way that they target you.”
Willis also had a message for the alleged gang members: “If you thought Fulton was a good county to bring your crime to, to bring your violence to, you are wrong and you are going suffer consequences and today is the start of some of those consequences.”
Ridley’s Instagram account includes multiple images that appear to show him wearing expensive jewelry. The former second-team All-Pro currently is serving an indefinite suspension and will miss at least the entire 2022 season for gambling on NFL games last season.
Willis said the indictment, filed last week, represented a collaboration between law enforcement agencies. Cracking down on gangs is a priority for Willis, and she said she intends to pursue tough penalties for people involved with violent gang activity.
“I am not going to negotiate with gang members. I am not going to allow pleas,” she said. “We are going to find you, we are going to convict you and we’re going to send you to the prison for the rest of your days, and I’m not apologizing for that.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Young Thug, Atlanta Rap Star, Is Arrested on Gang-Related Charges
Mr. Williams is named as having committed a number of illegal acts for which he is not charged, but which are described as “overt acts” in furtherance of the group’s criminal conspiracy. Among those allegations are an instance of threatening to kill a man at a mall and possession of methamphetamine with the intent to distribute it. Mr. Williams is also alleged to have rented a silver Infiniti Q50 sedan that was used in the commission of the murder of a rival gang member, Donovan Thomas Jr., in January 2015.
Five men are charged with murder in connection with Mr. Thomas’s death. One of them, Deamonte Kendrick, is identified as Yak Gotti, a rapper on the YSL label.
Contacted late Monday night, Drew Findling, a lawyer who has represented Mr. Williams in the past, declined to comment. In an interview with WSB-TV, Brian Steel, described by the station as Mr. Williams’s lawyer, said, “Mr. Williams committed no crime whatsoever and we will fight to my last drop of blood to clear him.”
In previous court documents, prosecutors have described how another cluster of Bloods-affiliated gangs are engaged in a hostile rivalry with Young Slime Life. In April 2021, Ms. Willis charged a dozen people who were said to be members of gangs in that rival cluster, including Rayshawn Bennett, another famous rap artist whose stage name is YFN Lucci. Mr. Bennett was indicted on, among other things, a felony murder charge in connection with a drive-by shooting. Monday’s indictment charges three people accused of being YSL members with attempted murder in an attack on Mr. Bennett, who was stabbed in jail in February.
“I am not impressed with the fact that you are a rapper — that’s not going to keep you from being indicted by default,” Ms. Willis said at a news conference in April, in which she criticized a judge for granting bond to Christian Eppinger, who raps under the name Big Bhris, is reported to be a Young Slime Life member and is accused of shooting an Atlanta police officer six times in February. “If they committed acts of violence, and if we have enough evidence to substantiate that, you’re going to see indictments,” Ms. Willis said.
Mr. Eppinger is facing 15 new charges under Monday’s indictment, including attempted murder.
The new charging document and other court records show that Fulton County prosecutors have been paying close attention to the music and social media output of Atlanta-area rappers and their associates for some time, using the content to bolster their criminal cases against a number of suspects from both rival gang groups.
1 dead, 3 injured in gang-related shooting outside St. Paul funeral home
St. Paul police say they are investigating a shooting on the city’s west side that has left one person dead and several others injured.
“It’s a tragedy on top of a tragedy. A family was there to gather to mourn and to celebrate a life and we had a shooting that took another life,” said Steve Linders, public information officer at St. Paul Police Department.
A crowd had gathered at Simple Traditions funeral home at Humboldt Avenue and Winifred Street for the memorial of Casanova Carter, a 26-year-old who was shot to death earlier this month, when shots were fired around 11:20 a.m.
Police say four people were shot: A 28-year-old man was shot in the throat and died from his injuries; a man in his 20s was shot in the abdomen, back and leg and is in critical condition; a man in his 30s was shot in the neck; and a bullet grazed the face of a man in his 20s.
Police said the motive in the shooting was unclear, but late Monday investigators told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS they believe it was gang-related.
Police on scene of a shooting in St. Paul
“I can tell you there were multiple shooters. There were bullets flying around, a very dangerous and scary situation,” Linders said. He did not rule out that the shooting was an exchange of gunfire.
Sources said there were more than 20 rounds fired, possibly from six different shooters.
People who live in the area said they are concerned for their safety and frustrated by the recent violence.
“For the neighborhood, it’s just not good. We’ve been hearing a lot of different shootings all over St. Paul. It’s just not the city it used to be,” said Todd Allen, who lives one block from the scene.
St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter issued the following statement regarding Monday’s shooting:
“Today’s trauma is a horrifying reminder of the cycles of violence that have gripped our neighborhoods for too long,” Mayor Carter said. “We will hold the victims’ families in our hearts as our officers work to identify those responsible, and remain resolved to continue building the comprehensive public safety systems we’ll need to end these cycles for good.”
Regions Hospital went into a 40-minute lockdown shortly after the shooting. A spokesperson noted there were no issues at the hospital itself and provided this statement:
“After reports of a shooting in a nearby neighborhood, our emergency department was briefly on lockdown for a short time today. We did this out of abundance of caution to ensure the safety of our patients and colleagues.”
Police told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS Casanova Carter’s family had hired private security for the funeral, but St. Paul police also had extra officers in the area on patrol.
No arrests have been made as of Monday afternoon.
A large police presence and crime scene tape could be seen outside Simple Traditions Funerals and Cremations by Bradshaw in the area of Robie Street and Humboldt Avenue, as well as Winifred Street and Hall Avenue, early Monday afternoon.
Investigators are asking for the public’s help in tracking down the suspects. If you know anything about this case, call the St. Paul Police Department.