NO LUVS CHARGED WITH SHOOTINGS...

Newsletters | Share Six people charged in 2008 S.B. County gang shootings



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08:01 AM PDT on Thursday, August 26, 2010

By PAUL LAROCCO
The Press-Enterprise


They traveled from nightclubs to house parties, often looking for fights.

That's how authorities described the Rialto gang called Noe Luv in 2007 and 2008, as they investigated several shootings in San Bernardino County, and some in Riverside, with minimal witness cooperation.

A young hip-hop dancer was slain in Fontana. An aspiring firefighter was executed outside a rented mansion north of Upland. A rival was wounded after a concert in Barstow.

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Detectives from several agencies compared notes, heard the same names, but could not gather enough evidence for charges. It took Rialto police investigators re-interviewing once-reluctant witnesses in many of the related cases to finally create a break this summer.

Six alleged Noe Luv members were charged last week in three 2008 shootings, two of them fatal. The four men and two women also face street terrorism counts, and one is accused of dissuading a witness from testifying.

"These are violent, violent gang members," said San Bernardino County Deputy District Attorney Daima Calhoun. "They went to parties, and if they saw a rival, or felt disrespected by anyone, they would shoot them in the head, in front of hundreds of people."

Five of the six defendants -- Rahshen Jerry Turner, 25; DeAndre Williams, 23; Kenley Davis, 22; Laneitra Gipson, 25; and LaQueesha Reed, 23 -- have been jailed on $5 million warrants. Justin Brandon Smith, 22, remains at large.

Turner, Williams, Gipson and Reed are charged in the March 2, 2008, attempted murder of a rival outside a Barstow dance club. Williams and Davis are charged in the July 18, 2008, killing of Christopher Lee Jackson, 21, a Riverside hip-hop dancer, at a Fontana party.

Williams, Turner and Smith are charged in the Aug. 3, 2008, point-blank shooting of DeVoghn Allen, 22, outside a 10,000-square-foot home in the upscale community of San Antonio Heights, north of Upland.

"Gang cases are the most difficult ones," said San Bernardino County sheriff's homicide Sgt. Tony DeCecio, who worked Allen's slaying. "And this case was extremely difficult.

"People are intimidated, but they need to realize that they're actually safer with the gang members in custody, rather than out on the street knowing that (the witness) holds vital pieces of information," he said.

A motive has not been released in Allen's death, but prosecutors said that Jackson, the Fontana victim, was not a gang member and was shot for no other reason than telling the suspects not to gang bang at his party.

Jackson was a member of the Riverside-based hip-hop dance troupe Buckworld One, which performed around the region. Since the slaying, the troupe has organized multiple memorial performances for the man nicknamed "Cornbread."

Davis, charged as the shooter in Jackson's case, was arrested within days. Williams was added as a co-defendant last week. In a gang crime, a person present with the gunman also can be charged with murder.

"It was just a matter of putting all the cases together," said Fontana police Sgt. Billy Green.

Meanwhile, detectives in other cities hope the recent Noe Luv arrests result in more willing witnesses. The gang is suspected in several other killings, including one in November 2008 in Riverside and another in August 2007 in San Bernardino.

In the San Bernardino homicide, a former all-state football and basketball star, Donnell Jury, argued with gang members after leaving Carlos O'Brien's Cantina. He was shot in the head while walking through the nearby Food 4 Less parking lot.

The case was notable because more than 100 people were present but few claimed to have seen anything.

"Those guys have been involved in activity in San Bernardino for quite a while," said San Bernardino police homicide Sgt. Dave Dillon. "We know they're involved in several murders here, but we just don't have the people to come forward."

I went to skoo with 2 of these dudes, Kenley and Deandre. Crazy shit.

i knew one of them.. Dat nigga Justin Aka Slam.. the same nigga who's rappin in dat video posted in the NL tread..

shit everyone knew slam.. slam was alwlays touchable. he'd be at the barbershop in fontana and other spots.. it be niggas like Goldie who youd never catch slippin, only at paarties or the club when they be deep. They called IE "Iesha" lol hated 5x, ie pj, and anything pressin ie really but was coo with the coltons. Niggas be at the team fresh functions snatchin niggas off stage lol or throwin water on them for claimin IE lol

dnice3x wrote:shit everyone knew slam.. slam was alwlays touchable. he'd be at the barbershop in fontana and other spots.. it be niggas like Goldie who youd never catch slippin, only at paarties or the club when they be deep. They called IE "Iesha" lol hated 5x, ie pj, and anything pressin ie really but was coo with the coltons. Niggas be at the team fresh functions snatchin niggas off stage lol or throwin water on them for claimin IE lol

lol man im already kno'n bro.. Slam is a hood hop and just now just gettin on sum gangsta shit when he started runnin wit the NL's Nigga u right about Goldie i always seen him at sum type of function never bumped him the streets.. He knew niggas wanna smoke him.. beside dat niggas would of been a super stripe..lol But kno we gon see wat the NL's gon be doin since they main gunners is finna get washed..