A shootout at a new Grantville apartment complex started not long after man showed up at a poolside party attended by several members of a rival gang, a prosecutor said this week.
New details of the March 1 gun battle that left two people dead emerged Thursday during the San Diego Superior Court arraignment of one of the suspected gunman.
Charles Patrick Burke, 31, pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges in connection with the shootings. The prosecution also filed gang allegations against Burke. He faces life in prison if convicted.
San Diego police said three people opened fire in a gun battle in the Union Grantville complex, which sits near a trolley station and markets itself to San Diego State University students.
Burke is the only suspected gunman to be arrested and charged in the case. A second suspected gunman died in the gun battle. It’s unclear whether police have sorted out who the third shooter might be.
The shooting victims were identified as Joseph Taylor, 31, and Lavion Estridge, 24.
According to Deputy District Attorney John Dunlap, several gang members, including Burke, were attending a pool party at the complex when a member of a rival gang showed up.
The rival gang member was “immediately and forcibly confronted” by the people at the party, who forced him into a corner near a stairwell and an elevator, the prosecutor said. Burke and another partygoer opened fire, shooting the rival, he said.
Dunlap said the rival gang member pulled out a gun and returned fire, fatally shooting one of the partygoers who had cornered him.
Gravely wounded, the rival gang member then ran into the stairwell. He died at a hospital.
Dunlap did not say which victim was Taylor or Estridge.
Taylor was a San Diego resident but did not live at the Union Grantville complex. Estridge was a security guard at the newly opened complex, but it was unclear if he was on duty when the shooting occurred.
Burke is accused of shooting at one of the victims who died, but he is charged with both deaths. Dunlap said that is because Burke is alleged to have opened fire in a crowded apartment complex, and also aiding and abetting the commission of both homicides.
