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Wednesday, March 27, 2024 | Back issues
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Six Arrested in Football Viewing Party Mass Shooting

A mass shooting that left four dead at a backyard football viewing party in Fresno, California, in November was gang related and several suspects have been arrested, police announced Tuesday.

(CN) – A mass shooting that left four dead at a backyard football viewing party in Fresno, California, in November was gang related and several suspects have been arrested, police announced Tuesday.

Fresno police have arrested six suspects in connection to the Nov. 17 shooting that devasted the local Hmong community.

The group of suspects walked into the backyard where friends and family were watching a football game on television. Women and children had gone inside earlier in the evening and only a group of men remained on an outdoor patio when the suspects opened fire, according to police.

Four men were killed and six more were injured. All were members of the Hmong community in Fresno, the second largest in the United States.

Fresno Police Chief Andy Hall said 16 hours before that shooting, 28-year old Randy Xiong was murdered in Fresno. That murder remains under investigation, but Hall said Randy Xiong’s brother Billy is a member of the Asian gang Mongolian Boy Society. Investigators have determined the backyard shooting was in retaliation and aimed at the gang believed responsible for Randy Xiong’s death – The Asian Crips.

On Dec. 17, the nearby Clovis Police Department arrested Billy Xiong, 25, for mail theft. Police found a modified 9mm handgun that was determined to be one of the murder weapons used at the backyard shooting.

“The shooting affected not only the city but really our Hmong American community,” said Hall.

Police served 18 search warrants as part of the investigation, which netted the second gun used at the shooting – a .40 caliber Glock pistol that was reported stolen in Oklahoma. Police also seized $46,000 in cash suspected to be tied to drug activity and two cars connected to the shooting.

In addition to Billy Xiong, police arrested Anthony Montes, 27, Porge Kue, 26, Johnny Xiong, 25, Pao Vang, 30, and Jhovanny Delgao, 19.

All suspects are professed members of the Mongolian Boy Society gang, Hall said.

Charges against the men include four counts of homicide, 12 counts of attempted homicide and conspiracy to commit murder with gang and firearm enhancements.

Hall said the suspects are being held on $11 million bail each.

Police are also looking for Sia Vang as a person of interest in the ongoing investigation.

The four men killed include Xy Lee, 23, Kou Xiong, 38, Phia Vang, 31 and Kalaxang Thao, 40. Lee was a famous YouTube singer whose videos received millions of views after his death.

The Fresno shooting came three days after a deadly attack at Saugus High School in Southern California in which a student shot five of his classmates, killing two.

Categories / Criminal, Regional

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