Man Sought in Slayings of 7 at Fresno Nightclub Seized

A possible suspect in the nightclub killings of seven people here last month--the worst mass murder in Fresno history--has been arrested in Oklahoma after an alleged series of crimes that included at least one other murder and three attempted murders.

John Malarkey, 24, of Fresno was arrested without incident on a fugitive warrant Sunday by FBI agents and Oklahoma state and local authorities. They found him in a used car lot in Tahlequah, a small college town near the Arkansas border, where he had fled to his grandparents’ house.

“We’ve developed information that possibly links John Malarkey to the Carrillo Club murders,” Fresno Police Detective Danny Martin said at a news conference here Monday. He declined to reveal a motive or any new details in the unsolved killings.

A Fresno police detective and deputy district attorney were sent to Cherokee County, Okla., to question Malarkey. He is being held on a $655,000 bond. The fugitive arrest warrant alleges that he killed an elderly Fresno man and attempted to kill three others, including a Fresno policeman who was shot in the face.

Fresno authorities also want to question Malarkey’s sister, Lanelle, 26, about the elderly man’s murder. She was arrested and is being held on a $250,000 bond.

Police said they received information about John Malarkey’s possible role in the May 19 Carrillo Club shootings after he was linked to a series of killings and shootings in Fresno this month.

According to the arrest warrant, the rampage began June 6 when Malarkey allegedly shot and wounded two men at an apartment complex in southeast Fresno after an argument. Two weeks later, according to the warrant, a Fresno police officer responding to a report of shots being fired was shot in the face.

Fresno police arrested Lawrence Azevedo, 19, of Fresno as an accessory to attempted murder. He is being held in Fresno County Jail. Authorities said they believe that Malarkey was the gunman.

On June 20, police discovered the body of 70-year-old Carl James Worley on a southeast Fresno street. He had been shot twice in the head and apparently run over by a car.