Two Duro Crip gang members have been convicted of the attempted murder of a 48-year-old Monrovia resident. A third gang member accused in the attempted murder pled guilty to the charges. The felony complaints against all three men included gun and gang allegations. The final verdict came Friday, February 26, after a month and a half at trial.
Guilty and awaiting sentence are 30-year-old Rashon McDaniels and 27-year-old Melvin Mapps of Duarte, and 30-year-old Mario Alford of unincorporated County territory near Monrovia and Duarte. The three suspects are members of the Duroc Crips gang.
Mapps pled guilty prior to the trial and received a 23-year sentence. McDaniels and Alford are facing sentences of 34 years to life
The shooting for which they were convicted occurred at 11:19 p.m. on February 9, 2007, in the 400 block of East Los Angeles Street in the City of Monrovia. The victim was watching television with her husband in their home when she answered a knock on her door. Several shots rang out.
The victim suffered a gunshot wound to her left shoulder and a grazing wound to her chin. She was able to close the door, but, as she fell to the floor, she received a third gunshot wound, this time to her upper left thigh. The victim was taken to Huntington Memorial Hospital and treated.
The victim did not have a gang affiliation, although the shooting appeared to be related to the gang violence occurring at that time in the Monrovia and Duarte areas between the predominantly Hispanic Monrovia Nuevo Vario gang and the predominantly black Duroc Crips gang.
The shooting was assigned to the Monrovia Duarte Gang Task Force, a group comprised of investigators from the Los Angeles Sheriff Department’s OSS (Operation Safe Streets) Bureau and the Monrovia Police Department’s Detective Bureau. It conducted an extensive investigation and presented the case to the District Attorney’s office in June 2008.