OAKLAND — The three men accused of killing former San Jose police officer Kevin Nishita more than two years ago were working on behalf of a San Francisco street gang known for breaking into cars and robbing people, according to new court documents filed Friday.
Laron Gilbert, Shadihia Mitchell and Hershel Hale are facing gang enhancement charges in the November 2021 slaying, which happened on 14th Street in downtown Oakland as Nishita was working as a security guard for a local television station. The filings allege the men committed the crimes to benefit the San Francisco street gang Mac Block, based on court transcripts, jail recordings and witness statements.
U.S. Marshals took Gilbert into custody Jan. 17 in Blue Springs, Mo., near Kansas City, federal authorities said. Authorities have not said how they learned Gilbert was in Missouri.
The suspects will be charged together now that all three are in custody, with each facing a higher maximum sentence if convicted, Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price said Friday at a news conference.
Gilbert now faces 189 years to life in prison, Mitchell faces 178 to life and Hale faces 151 to life — though all of them would still have the ability to seek parole.
At the time of the incident, Nishita was working for Star Protection Agency. He had previously worked as a police officer for the Oakland Housing Authority and for police departments in San Jose, Hayward and Colma.
All three men were arrested in the days after the killing, but police did not book Gilbert on a murder warrant, according to Alameda County Public Defender Brendon Woods, whose office is representing Mitchell. Once authorities were ready to charge Gilbert, he was no longer in custody.
Woods has claimed that Gilbert, not Mitchell, was the actual shooter. The attorney said in a recent statement that Gilbert went on the run while investigators “tried to cover up their incompetence by skewing the case to make it seem like our client was the shooter.”
Prosecutors originally charged Mitchell with personally killing Nishita, but that allegation was dropped. In her statements Friday, Price took aim at the decisions made under Nancy O’Malley, the three-term district attorney who retired in 2023.
“The previous prosecutors who charged the case under my predecessor made certain mistakes about who was responsible for the murder of Kevin Nishita and failed to include some charges that were deemed appropriate,” Price said.
“At my direction, our team re-evaluated the evidence, discovered those mistakes and we’ve resubmitted the charges to ensure that the men who we believe committed these crimes will be fully accountable,” she added.
Price’s decision to pad the suspects’ charges with gang enhancements marked an exception to the DA’s broader policy of generally avoiding special allegations that often make criminal sentences far more severe.
Announced last year, the new approach was intended to implement a more “fair and balanced administration of justice,” her representatives said at the time.
The DA did not accept questions from reporters at Friday’s news conference.
“We want to (assure) Oakland residents that this type of violence — and reckless violence — will not be tolerated,” Price said in her statement.
All three defendants are scheduled to return to court on March 8th to enter pleas.
Staff writer Nate Gartrell contributed to this report.