A man accused of taking part in a gang-related shooting that left two men dead last week in Grantville pleaded not guilty Thursday to murder charges.
Charles Patrick Burke Jr., 31, was arrested Tuesday afternoon in connection with the gunfire that broke out March 1 near the pool of an Alvarado Canyon Road apartment complex.
San Diego resident Joseph Taylor, 31, died in the shooting, as well as Lavion Estridge, 24, who worked as a security guard at the complex, according to San Diego police.
Deputy District Attorney John Dunlap on Thursday shed new light on the slayings, saying that one of the dead men, upon being attacked, shot and killed another man.
Dunlap said that Burke fired at one of the victims, but is being charged with both men’s slayings because “he’s accountable for both murders.”
The prosecutor said that Burke and other suspected gang members were having a party at the complex when a rival showed up, and a group of people, including Burke, confronted and attacked him.
At some point, Burke and another person allegedly pulled out guns and began firing.
The rival gang member returned fire, hitting one of his attackers, though Dunlap said that victim was not one of the people who opened fire.
Dunlap declined to clarify Taylor’s and Estridge’s roles in the confrontation.
The prosecutor said Burke is “responsible for the deaths of both individuals, not only by his provocative acts in engaging in gang violence in this apartment complex, but also being an aider and abettor to those murders.”
Burke remains in custody without bail.
– City News Service