6 gang members arrested in Fresno mass shooting. Victims mistakenly targeted, police say
Six suspects have been arrested in a November mass shooting at a southeast Fresno backyard party that killed four people and injured six others, police said Tuesday.
One man whom police say is a person of interest related to the deadly shooting remains at large.
Fresno Chief Andy Hall announced the arrests during a morning news conference, where he said the case was solved through the combined efforts of local, state, and federal officials.
Police believe the incident erupted as a gang retaliation shooting. But police do not believe any of the victims were gang members.
The arrested men, alleged members of the Mongolian Boys Society gang, were identified as Billy Xiong, 25; Anthony Montes, 27, Porge Kue, 26, Johnny Xiong, 25, Pao Vang, 30, and Jhovanny Delgao, 19.
The person of interest is Sia “Giant” Vang, 23, who is wanted on a parole violation.
The six men in custody are held on $11 million bail each, Hall said.
Killed in the Nov. 17 shooting were Kou Xiong, 38; Xy Lee, 23; Kalaxang Thao, 40; and Phia Vang, 31. The four were among a group of men watching a football game in the 5300 block of East Lamona Avenue when at least two gunmen entered the backyard and began firing pistols — and one of the weapons modified for fully automatic fire.
At the news conference, Hall did not specify which of the men were the shooters. But he said all six were involved in the planning and the conspiracy.
Fresno District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp, who attended the news conference, said the death penalty was not off the table for the suspects. Other charges include attempted murder for the wounding of the surviving victims.
Hall said the incident followed the shooting of a man in the 3900 block of East Dwight Avenue Avenue hours earlier. The victim, Randy Xiong, 28, of Fresno, was the brother of a gang member, Hall said Tuesday. The suspects, Hall added, apparently believed the shooter was a member of the Asian Crips gang and that the Lamona gathering was a party attended by gang members from that group.
Traffic stop helped investigation
Police, sheriff’s deputies and gang enforcement team officers served 19 warrants, 18 in Fresno and one in Visalia, on Dec. 26 before the arrests were made.
But it was an unrelated traffic stop by Clovis police on Dec. 17 that helped crack the case, Hall said. Billy Xiong was pulled over as a mail theft suspect, and officers discovered a fully automatic Glock pistol in his car, along with two high-capacity magazines. A federal check of shell casings fired by the gun determined that it was used in the Lamona shooting.
A second Glock pistol, stolen in Oklahoma, was also used in the slaying, but the lethality of the gunfire was likely enhanced because of use of the illegally modified Glock. Some of the Austrian handguns have reportedly been converted to fully automatic mode through the use of a part manufactured in China.
Eleven other guns, including several assault-type weapons, were seized during the warrant sweep.
Prior Mongolian Boys Society crimes
The mass slaying is not the first time the Mongolian Boys Society has been connected to a notorious crime in Fresno.
Thong Vang, a former shot-caller for the gang, in April 2018 was sentenced to 112 years to life in prison for the attempted murder of two unarmed correctional officers inside the the lobby of the main Fresno County Jail in September 2016.
In 1999, a Fresno County grand jury returned an 826-count indictment against 23 members of the Mongolian Boys Society for allegedly raping nine girls, ages 13 to 15, holding them against their will for hours or weeks and forcing them into prostitution.
Several suspects accepted plea deals and others had charges dropped, dismissed or were found not guilty. Ten defendants eventually went to trial and seven were convicted, according to Bee archives.
This story was originally published December 31, 2019 at 1:24 PM.