Confessed killer Kori Muhammad to make first court appearance

Confessed killer Kori Ali Muhammad will make his first appearance Friday in Fresno County Superior Court to face the first of what’s expected to be four murder charges related to his shooting rampage.

The Fresno County District Attorney’s Office on Thursday charged Muhammad with the murder last week of security guard Carl Allen Williams III at Motel 6 on Blackstone Avenue.

Prosecutors, however, have not charged Muhammad in connection with a shooting rampage Tuesday morning in downtown Fresno that killed three people. That crime remains under investigation by the Fresno Police Department and has not been submitted to the District Attorney’s Office for review, said Assistant District Attorney Steve Wright.

Once the investigation is completed, prosecutors will review the evidence and determine what charges are warranted, according to a news release issued by the District Attorney’s Office.

Muhammad is accused of killing Williams on the night of April 13 and attempting to shoot a second security guard in the parking lot of a Motel 6 on Blackstone Avenue.

A criminal complaint filed Thursday charges Muhammad, 39, with the murder of Williams and the attempted murder of Oscar Menjivar. The complaint also accuses Muhammad of personally using a firearm in the commission of those crimes.

If convicted of the charges, Muhammad faces a potential sentence of life in prison.

Muhammad is being held in the Fresno County Jail without bail. He will be arraigned Friday morning.

Police contend Muhammad, 39, killed Zackary David Randalls, 34, of Clovis, Mark James Gassett, 37, of Fresno, and David Martin Jackson, 58, of Fresno in a shooting rampage Tuesday morning near downtown Fresno.

Muhammad is black. All of the murder victims were white. Police Chief Jerry Dyer has said the killings were fueled by Muhammad’s hatred of white people.

Court records say Muhammad has several aliases, including Kori McWallace, Kori Taylor, Corey Allen Taylor and Cory Allen Muhammad. He grew up in Fresno, but later moved to Sacramento where he racked up nine criminal cases in Sacramento Superior Court between 1997 and 2004, including a gun conviction, online records indicate. His criminal record also includes making criminal threats, forgery, false imprisonment and driving under the influence, online records state.

In October 2006, he was sentenced to federal prison after pleading guilty in U.S. District Court in Fresno to possession with the intent to distribute crack cocaine and being a felon in possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking. He was released from prison in September 2001 and placed on supervised release.

He completed supervised release in September last year, court records say.

This story was originally published April 20, 2017 at 4:27 PM with the headline "Confessed killer Kori Muhammad to make first court appearance."