Tattoo Party Ends in Deadly Shootout, Fairfield Man One of 5 Arrested for Murders

Fairfield man is one of five suspects arrested in a San Leandro shooting spree that killed two teens, and a young man after a huge tattoo party in 2011.
 
Previously, only four suspects have previously been in custody; a fifth suspect has been arrested and charged in connection this week. The shooting at the end of a tattoo party two years ago left three wounded along with three people, police said today.

Thomas Walker Jr., 25, of Oakland, who had been at large since the shooting outside a warehouse in the 2600 block of Alvarado Street in San Leandro at about 1:20 a.m. on Oct. 2, 2011, was arrested in Hayward on Friday night by agents from the U.S. Marshals Service, according to San Leandro police.

A preliminary hearing for the other four suspects in the shooting began on July 24 and will meet for the second time on Friday. The purpose of the hearing is to determine if there's enough evidence to order the four defendants to stand trial on the charges against them.

Walker will be prosecuted separately at least for now so his arrest won't affect the schedule for the hearing for the other four defendants, Alameda County district attorney's spokeswoman Teresa Drenick said.

Walker was arraigned earlier this week and appeared in court today for a hearing at which he was scheduled to obtain a lawyer.

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.

San Leandro police said the suspects also shot at four other people, injuring three of them.

Previously arrested were Aaron Stewart, 20, of Fairfield, Anthony Perry, 22, of Oakland, Stanley Turner, 20, of Oakland, and Paul Arthur Stevenson, 22, of Oakland.

The four men and Walker are each charged with three counts of murder and four counts of premeditated attempted murder as well as the special circumstance of committing multiple murders.

Stevenson, Perry and Stewart are all charged with firing the shots that killed the three victims and wounded the others and prosecutors allege that Turner provided the 9 mm handgun that was used in the shooting and drove the suspects out of the area to avoid arrest.

Sgt. Ted Henderson said in a probable cause statement that three anonymous witnesses and two of the surviving victims "reported seeing Walker bring guns into the party or stated that he gave the okay for the shooters to start shooting."

Two survivors looked into the victims' green Ford Explorer "and looked inside as if he were looking for someone" and then nodded toward one of the shooters, Henderson said.

Moments later two shooters approached the victims' car and fired inside it, Henderson said.

San Leandro police said the shooting occurred about 50 minutes after the end of the tattoo party.

They estimated 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.

Authorities haven't discussed a motive for the shooting.

Perry's lawyer, Darryl Stallworth, said today that the attorneys involved in the hearing for the first four suspects to be arrested hope that it will be completed on Friday.

If the hearing doesn't end on Friday, it will be completed on the following Friday, Aug. 23, Stallworth said.