PITTSBURG — Thirteen members and associates of a small Pittsburg gang have been arrested following an ambush-style deadly shooting allegedly involving four of the gang’s members, police announced Thursday.
The July 14 slaying of 24-year-old Trevon Richardson kicked off a large-scale investigation into the Pittsburg-based Midtown gang, which resulted in nine murder or accessory suspects being charged. Four others were arrested on unrelated offenses, including drug and gun possession, police said.
Two of the nine murder suspects are juveniles, and police have not released their names. One other, 19-year-old Amen Allen, remains a fugitive and police are encouraging anyone with knowledge of his whereabouts to come forward.
Of the adults, Deavion Young, Larry Lee Major III, Christopher Perez, all 19, and Marcolino Ortega, 18, have all been charged with murder and attempted murder, while Joseph Ramey, 20, and Melissa Ramey, 37, face accessory charges. Young and Major also face charges of conspiracy, court records show.
Bail for the each of the murder suspects has been set at $5 million.
Richardson was shot and killed at the Lido Square Apartment Complex on Crestview Drive in Pittsburg. Authorities say there were four shooters, who were intending to kill a man that Richardson was with.
According to court records, Allen — the man still on the lam — spotted the intended victim during a barbecue at the apartment complex and alerted fellow Midtown members to what he’d seen. The gang prepared for the shooting by changing clothes, donning ski masks and readying their guns, authorities allege.
Richardson and his friend were pulling out of a parking space at the apartment complex when four people opened fire, striking Richardson in the head and killing him instantly. His friend suffered three gunshot wounds but survived, authorities said.
The Midtown gang, which formed in the early 2010s, is based at the Lido Square apartments and is made up of mostly young men, police say. While relatively small in numbers, the group has been linked to additional homicides, including the slaying of a 19-year-old man at a Pittsburg trailer park in December 2014 and the 2022 Antioch drive-by shooting that killed a 17-year-old boy who was allegedly part of a rival gang.
Police are encouraging anyone with with information on this case or Allen’s whereabouts to contact Detective Miguel Gutierrez at 925-252-4095 or the Pittsburg Police Department’s Tip Line at 925-252-4040.
