2nd Man Charged in Gang Shooting That Left 5 Dead

A second suspect was formally charged Thursday with five counts of murder and six counts of attempted murder in what police have described as the bloodiest gang-related attack in Los Angeles history.

Investigators say Fred Knight, 18, and an accomplice drove up in a car last Oct. 12 and fired a fusillade of bullets into a group of young people arriving for a party at a home on West 54th Street. Five of the guests were killed and six were wounded.

The attack apparently was in retaliation for a rival gang’s theft of a car owned by the accomplice, Keith Tyrone Fudge, according to police. Fudge, also known as “Ace Capone,” was arrested a month after the shootings. The 18-year-old man is in custody awaiting trial on the same counts as Knight.

Knight was arrested without incident Tuesday night at his home on South Wilton Place, according to Lt. Paul Jefferson, commander of the Los Angeles Police Department’s South Bureau CRASH (Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums) unit.

“We developed information on him through a witness that placed him at the scene of the crime, doing some shooting,” Jefferson said.

Asked whether further arrests are expected, Jefferson would say only that “the investigation is continuing.”

Knight remained in custody after pleading not guilty to all 11 counts Thursday afternoon in the courtroom of Los Angeles Municipal Judge Elva R. Soper.

Witnesses to the shooting told a reporter that the guests had gathered in front of the home on 54th Street at about 9:30 p.m. when a car drove up.

“They double parked . . . jumped out and started shooting,” said one teen-ager who saw the attack. “There was no kind of argument. It was random, like they said . . . ‘I’ve got to hit someone and I don’t care who I hit.’ ”

A neighbor said that as the shooting ended and the assailants drove off, “they were just cracking up and laughing.”