Fourth Suspect in Halloween Slayings Surrenders

A fourth reputed gang member sought in the Halloween slayings of three teen-agers on a Pasadena sidewalk turned himself in Tuesday morning shortly before three other suspects pleaded not guilty in the case.

Solomon Bowen, 18, visited his mother’s apartment before giving himself up shortly after 10 a.m. to Pasadena police officers waiting nearby, Lt. Denis Petersen said.

At nearly the same time, the three other suspects in custody entered their not guilty pleas to murder charges at their arraignment in Pasadena Municipal Court. Aurelius Bailey, 19, of Pasadena, Lorenzo Newborn, 23, of Los Angeles and Karl Holmes, 19, of Altadena were scheduled to return to court Feb. 25 for the setting of a preliminary hearing.

Those three and Bowen, along with Herbert McClain, 25, who is still being sought, are charged with murder in the deaths of Edgar Evans, 13, and Stephen Coats and Reggie Crawford, both 14.

The victims were part of a group of 10 walking home at 10:30 p.m. from a chaperoned Halloween party when two gunmen jumped out of bushes and opened fire with semiautomatic weapons. Three other boys were wounded.

Police say the five suspects are members of a well-known Pasadena gang who mistook the group for rivals and shot them in retaliation for the shooting earlier that night of a member of their own gang. In fact, none of the young teen-agers had any gang ties, police said.

The murder investigation stymied detectives for 52 days until Dec. 23, when detectives raided three homes and arrested Bailey, took Holmes into custody after he surrendered and charged Newborn, who was in County Jail as the result of another case.

Police said McClain fled to Kansas City for a time, but has since returned and is in hiding in the Pasadena area.

Bowen is believed to have been in the Pasadena area since Dec. 23. A police detective worked with Bowen’s brother to negotiate the surrender because Bowen feared he or others might be harmed if police confronted him without a prearrangement, Petersen said.

Bowen told police he is glad the wait is over, saying he had spent “a lot of sleepless nights,” the lieutenant said.

Though Bowen stopped by the Pasadena apartment of his mother, Caroline, before surrendering, she was not home at the time. Caroline Bowen later insisted her son is innocent.

“I don’t believe none of it and I don’t think the police do either,” she said.