6 Shot to Death in Oakland; Victim’s Ex-Boyfriend Held

Six people, including two children, were shot to death in their beds early Monday after a paroled ex-convict and a woman allegedly kicked their way into an East Oakland house in the bloody climax of a harassment campaign against the parolee’s former girlfriend and her mother.

Suspect David Esco Welch, 28, was captured nearly nine hours later by police officers at a house 12 blocks away after the woman suspect, tentatively identified as Rita Lewis, 29, leaped through a window to give herself up.

Police then were able to persuade Welch to talk to them by telephone and to surrender. Both were taken to Highland Hospital, Lewis with glass cuts and Welch with gunshot wounds believed to have been incurred during the massacre on Pearmain Street.

“These people never had a chance,” said Police Lt. Richard Brierly. “This was the worst and most senseless killing I’ve seen in Oakland.”

Four of those slain were tentatively identified as Dellane Mabrey, 16, Welch’s former girlfriend; her daughter, Valencia, 3; and her brothers, Orlando Sean, 20, and Darnell, 24. A woman in her 20s and a girl of about 2 were also killed; they were not immediately identified.

Wounded in the carnage was 3-month-old Dexter Welch, Dellane Mabrey’s son by the suspect. He was listed in stable condition at Children’s Hospital with gunshot wounds in one arm. Also surviving were Leslie Morgan, 21, who suffered two gunshot wounds in the arm, and Barbara Mabrey, Dellane Mabrey’s mother.

Welch and Lewis were to be booked on suspicion of murder. Neighbors and acquaintances described Welch, an unemployed janitor, as violent. His criminal record fills nine computer pages, starting in his teens.

According to court records, Barbara Mabrey had told Welch to stay away from her daughter. The mother complained subsequently that she was almost run over by Welch’s car on Oct. 13.

The night of Oct. 29, according to the Mabreys, Welch kicked in their door--as he did again Monday--and beat Dellane Mabrey, demanding to know where she had put a jacket he owned.

After the Mabreys complained, Welch was charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, based on the alleged attacks on mother and daughter. He represented himself in court and told a judge that the matter was “basically a family dispute.” He pointed out that Dellane Mabrey was the mother of his child.

He was freed on bail despite the Mabreys’ contentions in a police report that he planned to have friends beat the older woman to death and despite Dellane Mabrey’s having told police that she feared for her life.

In addition to the two assault charges, Welch was facing charges of possessing cocaine and heroin for sale. He was free on bail in connection with both the assault and drug charges and was to appear in court on Wednesday.

A childhood friend, who asked that his name not be published, said Welch had attacked Dellane Mabrey several times before. Recently, the friend said, Welch was upset because one of his two pit bulldogs had run away from the Pearmain Street house, even though he had asked the Mabreys and others there to watch them.

“He’s crazy,” the friend said. “Psycho. He’d start smoking blasters (cocaine) and drinking Hennessy (whiskey), and he’d be even crazier.”

Earlier Police Call

A woman neighbor said Welch went to the Mabrey home Sunday night, fired a gun into the air, pistol-whipped some of the occupants and demanded the return of the missing dog. A police report shows a response to a disturbance call at the house Sunday night--only hours before the killing.

Someone in the small, ramshackle frame house reportedly telephoned police as the shootings were in progress about 5 a.m. Monday. When officers arrived, Brierly said, they found “a very grisly scene.” The six victims, he said, “were executed.”

Four hours later, police surrounded a house on 103rd Avenue in East Oakland, where Welch and Lewis had forced their way in. Police said the resident of that house fled, locking the door with a dead-bolt and imprisoning the two suspects.

Officers were initially unable to convince Welch to surrender. The area was cordoned off and neighbors were evacuated. An elderly next-door neighbor was unable to walk and was helped to crawl to safety.

‘A Lot of Patience’

As flak-jacketed police sharpshooters surrounded the small house, negotiators tried for hours to get Welch to pick up the telephone. It was not until about 1:45 p.m., when the woman jumped through the window, that Welch gave in to what Brierly called “a lot of patience and very careful negotiation.”

Inside, police said, they found two revolvers and an Uzi submachine gun.

Authorities said Welch--whose nickname was “Moochie”--was paroled in January, 1985, from Folsom Prison after serving six years for auto theft and burglary. He was imprisoned again in August, 1985, for violating parole with an assault. He was released last January.