Contra Costa County Sheriff David Livingston updated press outlets and the public Friday in the wake of Thursday’s arrests of five men wanted in connection with the murderous Halloween Night shooting at an Orinda home.
Livingston placed the blame for the murder of five people that night and in the hours following the shooting squarely on those arrested during a series of wake-up raids in Marin, San Mateo and Contra Costa counties Thursday.
The sheriff said several people were armed the night of the shooting, and that lingering bitterness between factions of rival gangs and the perceived theft of an unmentioned item that night likely triggered the gunplay – which left bodies strewn around the up-scale Airbnb “party house.”
Of the men arrested, Livingston said:
Wallace had prior convictions from DUI, driving on suspended license, receiving stolen property and illegal possession of an assault weapon.
Sweeney, who Livingston said was the suspect observed entering the residence with a firearm and when arrested had a loaded 9mm pistol. He has prior convictions for altercations, displaying a firearm and possession of a firearm.
Williamson, who was the promoter of this event, was arrested with charges of conspiracy, carrying a concealed weapon and vandalism.
Mitchell has prior convictions, per authorities: Assault with a deadly weapon, gang enhancements and other criminal threats. Livingston thanked Antioch Police who attempted to make the arrest where Mitchell attempted to flee out of a second-story back window before taken into custody in a backyard.
Livingston said based on evidence at the scene inside the residence, two of the deceased were also armed. The armed deceased person was identified as Ramon Hill Jr. who was a known associate with a gang in San Francisco. He had numerous convictions and on parole at the time of his death. He also identified Javin County as also being armed who had an extensive criminal history and also associated with a Marin City gang who had convictions for grand theft, robbery, assault, obstructing an officer and receiving stolen property and assault with a deadly weapon.
“Its important to note this investigation is still in its early stages. We wanted to make the arrest as soon as we were able with cooperating factual evidence to get them into custody,” said Livingston who says detectives are still seeking much technical information with federal partners and crime lab work. He also added there are still others they are seeking out.
Orinda Police Chief David Cook said this is an incident that has rocked the community and thanked all the state, local and federal partners for assisting the community.
Orinda Mayor Inga Miller thanked the Contra Costa County Sheriffs Office and assisting agencies for this investigating and bringing justice in this investigation.
Aren’t the parents of Ramon Hill Jr. suing the owner, airbnb and the City of Orinda? If so I hope they don’t get a dime.
Last week Hill’s family, or their attorney, were telling the press they were going to sue. A draft complaint was even posted on one of the local news sites (naming AirBNB and the homeowners), but as of today the CoCo court website didn’t show it has having been filed yet.
Guessing once the lawyer learned a little more about young Raymon’s activities that night from LE investigators, he did the calculations on causation, negligence, contributory negligence, and assumption of risk, and figured the case wasn’t worth fronting the time and costs on.
It could have happened anywhere but the sad truth is that people will always remember that it happend in Orinda.
No, I think the scourge of gas blowers is how Orinda will be remembered nationally. A sanctuary defiled. An eddy of affluence, separate and apart, tragically swept into big muddy American waters. No, don’t ask me to cry for Orinda.
No one asked you to cry for Orinda Dave
Going to that party must have been like swimming in a pool of gasoline with a bunch of cigarete smokers. They must have been waiting for the first one to drop the match and set it off. Is that fun? It almost seems like a game for a lot of people there.
Pretty much as expected. Depressing. Horrible that innocent bystanders were hurt/killed.
Senseless crazy and disturbing.
What a bunch of scumbags… and dumb ones too.
This is yet another shining example of CA’s attempts at “criminal justice reform” not working. The state of CA has blood on its hands. The parolees should have still been in prison finishing their sentences.. instead, CA chose to release them early, and look what they went and did.
If the prisons are too crowded and it’s leading CA to release inmates early, how about we build more prisons instead.
Where to start on this? Participants in a violent and thuggish subculture cheating a business to get their party on in a “mansion.” Gaming the system and exploiting a loophole and a homeowner’s rental policies and bringing a small arsenal to a “party” and then opening fire on other participants in an act of senseless mass murder. And in the middle of one of the safest cities in the east bay. I predict the filing of more lawsuits.
“And in the middle of one of the safest cities in the east bay. I predict the filing of more lawsuits.”
Well, where there is money, there will be lawsuits. That is axiomatic. But how can you say “one of the safest cities” blah, blah, blah? Orinda has a bart station and easy access to the freeway. Orinda is ripe for smash and grab and home invasion crime. Orinda is not an island oasis, and while affluence and blithe ignorance do exude their own anesthetizing vapors, when violence does strike it is no less sharp and cold and lethal and sudden and (I can’t believe what’s happening) shocking. And yet, you felt safe before? It seems that safe oasis hypothesis was faulty. “One of the safest cities in the east bay” can become a scene for a mass shooting in a heartbeat. In fact, the shooters were invited. In fact, they came to shoot up the place. It is true that “they” “cheated a business” in pursuit of this crime, these crimes. In the end, I don’t think the people who rented this party house and the people who shot it up were worried about violating any rental agreement.
Now, in response, you can build your walls and moats. You can proscribe short term rentals in Orinda (and who cares after all, its not adjacent to Disneyland), but you will never be absolutely, positively safe. In the end, you don’t live in the world you think you do or would like to imagine.
Orinda is still a safe city. This happened because a greedy landlord was renting out his “hotel” to thugs. All he cared about was money. If unattended short term rentals are banned (and hopefully all short term rentals) this won’t happen again. The two incidents in Orinda are AIRBNB RELATED. Regardless of what naïve enablers say. They’re defending Airbnb which is ASININE. Once again, keep this inner-city lifestyle in the inner-city where it belongs.
I don’t have a problem with *hosted* short term rentals. Hearing the public comments of the “hosts” on the City Council meeting video changed my view on this. Selfishly, I would ban ALL rentals or any type if I could. But I also acknowledge the property rights of the owners and the service they provide.
I believe in property rights too, as long as it’s not to the detriment of your neighbors. And Airbnb is. ALL rentals of ANY type should be banned, and it’s not selfish. If you want to own a hotel, buy one. If neighbors want to live next door to a HOTEL, they’ll move next door to a Motel 6 or The Hilton. Not buy a home in their neighborhood of choice.
But… it’s time for me to take my own advice. “Forgiveness. Let it go. Move on.”
Hopefully they’ll talk. So many of us want to know how this could happen.
How this could happen…are you serious? Throw a party and make sure that dozens of adherents of a depraved, violent subculture devoid of a moral rudder attend.
Um. They were invited?
How could this happen? They’re gang members. They retaliate. Talk? No snitching.
Serious jail time. Significant criminal history. What do the jailhouse lawyers say? First one to flip gets the deal, everyone else gets the shaft.
It sounds as if some if not many of the attendees half expected there would be trouble that night.