Orinda shooting scene a ‘bloodbath’

Investigators: Gunmen sneaked weapons past guard

Investigators described a chaotic scene at an Airbnb house party in Orinda where five people were slain, saying Friday that multiple gunmen opened fire in close quarters after sneaking their weapons past a frontdoor security guard who was drinking from a bottle of Cognac.

Rival gangs, including from San Francisco and Marin City, attended the Halloween night party that was advertised on social media. At least three men were armed, and the first shots may have been fired after someone was caught trying to steal something in the home’s kitchen, officials said.

A total of 10 people were shot — five fatally — inside the home on Lucille Way in a quiet, wooded neighborhood, officials said. Three other people were injured escaping the violence, including two who jumped in panic from a balcony.

“In my 32 years in law enforcement, I have never seen a homicide scene like this ever,” said Contra Costa County Sheriff David Livingston. “It was a bloodbath.”

Livingston spoke a day after five men were arrested in raids around the Bay Area, including four accused of murder and the party’s alleged promoter.

The murder suspects, who have not been charged by prosecutors, were identified as Lebraun Tyree Wallace, 28, of San Mateo; Jaquez Deshawn

Sweeney, 20, and Jason Iles, 20, both of Marin City; and Shamron Joshua Mitchell, 30, of Antioch. All four suspects are in Contra Costa County jail in Martinez and declined to be interviewed by The Chronicle on Friday.

A fifth man, 21yearold Devin Isiah Williamson of Vallejo, was the party’s promoter and was booked on suspicion of being an accessory,

officials said. He was being held on $500,000 bond. Like the four other men, he was also suspected of being part of a criminal conspiracy.

Sweeney, authorities said, was captured on video entering the Orinda home with a firearm and was carrying a loaded 9mm pistol when he was arrested.

Before the shooting started, partygoers were confronted by a man working security at the home’s front door, Livingston said. But in reviewing video from that night, investigators observed people tucking guns into their pants and going inside as the guard sipped from a bottle of Hennessy, he said.

Around 10:50 p.m., the sheriff said, some kind of altercation erupted in the kitchen, and witnesses told investigators there was an “attempt to steal property from one person, which may have precipitated the shooting.”

Livingston said investigators were working to determine a motive for the shooting, but he also said that some of the people involved went to the party “with the intent of causing harm and conflict.”

The other suspects have varying criminal backgrounds, some with prior gang charges, the sheriff said. In total, investigators so far have recovered four guns — two of which were found at the scene.

The five people killed were Tiyon Farley, 22, of Antioch; Omar Taylor, 24, of Pittsburg; Raymon Hill Jr., 23, of San Francisco and Oakland; Javlin County, 29, of Marin City and Richmond; and Oshiana Thompkins, 19, of Vallejo and Hercules.

Hill had a gun on him when he was killed and is a documented member of the Page Street Mob in San Francisco’s Lower Haight, Livingston said. He was paroled in July from state prison after being convicted of a driveby shooting on Potrero Hill.

County was also on supervised release after a state prison sentence for possession of stolen property. He was associated with a Marin City gang and was also armed when he was killed, Livingston said. However, who exactly killed each of the victims remains unclear.

Livingston described going into the home at 114 Lucille Way and seeing shell casings strewn across the floor and on counter tops.

“There is a staggering amount of crime lab work going on now, including DNA and firearms comparisons,” the sheriff said.

Also Friday, several fights broke out outside a memorial for Thompkins at the North Richmond Missionary Baptist Church, where about 300 to 350 people were gathered. At one point, police called for multiple ambulances and backup officers. But Lt. Matt Stonebraker, a Richmond police spokesman, said later that no arrests were made, and no injuries were reported. The cause of the disturbance was unclear.

San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Alejandro Serrano contributed to this report.