Suspects In Tattoo Triple Murder Plead Not Guilty

By Bay City News Service

Four suspects in a shooting after a tattoo party in San Leandro
last October that left three people dead and three others wounded pleaded not
guilty today to three counts of murder and four counts of premeditated
attempted murder.
           Suspects Aaron Stewart, 19, of Fairfield, Anthony Perry, 21, of
Oakland, Stanley Turner, 19, of Oakland, and Paul Arthur Stevenson, 21, of
Oakland, are scheduled to return to Alameda County Superior Court on Aug. 29
for a pretrial hearing.
           Stewart and Perry were arrested March 1 and Turner was arrested on
March 2. Stevenson was arrested on Oct. 20, 18 days after the shooting on
Oct. 2, 2011.
           In addition to murder and attempted murder, the four men are
charged with the special circumstance of committing multiple murders, which
means that they could face the death penalty or life in prison without parole
if they're convicted of at least two counts of murder, including at least one
first-degree murder.
           Police said the shooting occurred at about 1:20 a.m. on Oct. 2,
about 50 minutes after the end of a tattoo party held at a warehouse in the
2600 block of Alvarado Street in San Leandro.
           After the party, the suspects allegedly shot at a green Ford
Explorer containing six of seven people inside. Three of the victims died
from their injuries, police said.
           The seventh victim ran from the car after the incident, but police
later located him.
           Killed in the shooting were 16-year-old Leneasha Northington, a
student at San Leandro High School, 19-year-old Shanice Kiel of San
Francisco, who had been accepted at San Francisco State University, and
23-year-old Joshua Alford of Oakland.
           Stevenson, Perry and Stewart are all charged with firing the shots
that killed the three victims.
           Turner joins them in being accused of three counts of murder and
four counts of premeditated attempted murder for allegedly providing the 9 mm
handgun used in the triple homicide and driving the suspects out of the area
to avoid arrest.
           San Leandro police estimated shortly after the shooting that about
200 people attended the party, most in their late teens or early 20s, and
that the party was heavily promoted on social media sites such as Facebook.
           The party had ended by the time the shooting happened around 1:20
a.m., but there was still a large group of people in the parking lot, police
said.