Authorities Rule Out Gang Violence in Shooting Death of Oceanside Teen

Michele Tate wasn’t killed in a gang-related drive-by shooting, but died from a single rifle bullet fired by a sniper who was aiming at somebody else, authorities said Wednesday.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Greg Walden said Akeli S. Kelly, charged with slaying the popular 14-year-old high school freshman in Oceanside, was actually trying to shoot at several youths with whom he had quarreled, but missed.

“It’s our belief he wasn’t intending to kill Michele; he was intending to shoot at the young black males in close proximity to Michele Tate,” Walden said.

“This, in fact, was a sniper.”

After Tate was gunned down outside Alberto’s Mexican restaurant in east Oceanside the night of Oct. 1, witnesses told police the shot came from a passing vehicle and reflected area gang hostilities.

Police thought the incident may have involved gangs because the neighborhood has rival Samoan and black gangs, suspected gang members were near the shooting scene, and Kelly is Samoan with an alleged grudge against several blacks.

But after more than a week of investigation by police, Walden said, “I don’t believe it was gang related other than the fact some of the people standing around were gang members.”

Police Chief Oliver Drummond agreed, saying, “We still don’t have anything to prove it’s gang motivated.”

According to Walden, the genesis of the killing came about a month ago when Kelly, 21, wandered down to the 7-Eleven near Alberto’s to buy some groceries and a fist fight broke out with several black males near the store.

On the night Tate died, Kelly reportedly returned to the same area, where he may have encountered the same individuals and a verbal fight followed. “After that, we believe he returned to his apartment and retrieved a weapon,” Walden said.

What happened next, according to Walden, was that Kelly went back and took cover behind a concrete block wall at an apartment building 50 yards or less from the restaurant.

“He fired across the street from behind the wall,” Walden said.

The bullet hit Tate in the back and wounded a pregnant 17-year-old companion, who received hospital treatment and was released. Tate, the wounded teen-ager and two other acquaintances were just leaving Alberto’s when the shooting occurred.

Walden said a rifle was later found, but he declined to describe it or where it was recovered.

After the shooting, police began searching for suspects, among them Kelly, who walked into the police station and surrendered two days later. Last Friday, he was arraigned and pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and attempted murder.

He is being held without bail in County Jail in Vista and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Nov. 7.

“He has not confessed,” Walden said.

Kelly’s attorney, Jim Dicks, insisted Wednesday that his client has been unfairly accused in the slaying.

“The evidence points toward other people. Nobody’s said they’ve seen (Kelly) out there with a gun,” Dicks said.

According to Dicks, witnesses have reported seeing Kelly talking amicably earlier in the day with the people he’s charged with trying to shoot later. “It doesn’t make sense,” he said.

The incident and initial rumors of gang violence sent shock waves through the modest neighborhood near Camp Pendleton’s back gate. El Camino High School, where Tate attended, added security guards and police increased patrols in the area.

Drummond said members of the Samoan and black communities in Oceanside helped sooth tensions by riding along on police patrols. The chief and minority clergymen also met to share information and “make sure we didn’t have panic on our hands,” Drummond said.

On Wednesday, leaders of the Samoan community and Reginald Owens, president of the North County Chapter of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, issued a joint plea for reason at the Oceanside Civic Center.

Owens and Wayne Godinet, a Samoan and unit director of the Boys and Girls Club of Oceanside, urged understanding and communication between the minority communities.

“Let’s not dwell in the past, but go forth,” Owens said.

Godinet said a public forum in the Samoan community will be held next week to discuss family and social problems that tempt children to join gangs. “We know there’s a little housekeeping to be done in the Samoan community,” he said.