Paroled Pacoima Gang Member Sought as Suspect in 2 Sepulveda Slayings

A gang member on parole for a previous shooting was identified Friday by police as a suspect in a shooting this week in Sepulveda that left two bystanders dead and a third seriously wounded.

Kenneth Ford Fuqua, 27, a Pacoima man who was described as armed and dangerous, has been charged in an arrest warrant with two counts of murder, three counts of attempted murder and two counts of kidnaping, Los Angeles Police Detective Sandra Palmer said. His whereabouts are unknown, she said.

Investigators identified Fuqua as the man who accompanied Edward Furnace, 23, of Van Nuys to an apartment complex in the 8800 block of Langdon Avenue on Sunday night to find a man who had been involved in a soured drug deal.

Investigators said Furnace and Fuqua planned vengeance. Once at the complex, they kidnaped a man and woman they didn’t know at gunpoint and forced the couple to accompany them to an apartment where they believed their quarry lived, authorities said.

The gunmen kicked open the door but found the apartment empty, investigators said. As they left the complex, the gunmen fired at five men standing in a back alley, striking three of them, police said. When the shooting started, police said, the kidnaped couple escaped.

Willie Johnson, 21, of Panorama City and Brett Boswell, 28, of Saugus were killed in the shooting. The third man, Timothy Brown, 24, of Van Nuys, was shot in the back but was recovering at Northridge Hospital Medical Center.

Furnace was shot in the leg by a police officer and arrested Monday morning at a Van Nuys apartment. Police said he was shot when he pointed an Uzi machine gun at an officer.

Two women were also arrested at the apartment. Debra Elaine Frazier, 29, was arrested on a narcotics sales warrant. Sophina Newsome, 27, was initially arrested on suspicion of murder and possession of narcotics. Newsome was later charged with one count of possession of narcotics and one count of possession of a weapon by a convicted felon.

Investigators would not say how they identified Fuqua as a suspect. He is on parole for shooting at an occupied dwelling, authorities said.