Wave Wire Services
LOS ANGELES — A man pleaded not guilty July 17 to murder and other charges stemming from a Fourth of July shooting that left a 19-year-old college student dead and two female teenagers injured in Compton.
Antoine Jones, 54, is charged in the killing of University of Nevada, Las Vegas, student Meah Bordenave-Jenkins and the attempted murders of the two teens who were shot and injured, along with one count of possession of a firearm by a felon, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced at a July 16 news conference.
The Compton man remains jailed in lieu of just over $5 million bail and is due back at the Compton courthouse July 29, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
He could face a maximum of 117 years to life in state prison if convicted as charged, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Jones is also suspected of being involved in a car-to-car shooting June 29 in Anaheim that detectives learned had occurred between two male adults over a “domestic dispute involving a female,” according to Anaheim Police Chief Manny Cid, who noted that investigators quickly identified one of the gunmen as Jones and that they worked with their counterparts in the sheriff’s department “in identifying Mr. Jones” as being a suspect in the Compton killing.
“On a day of community celebration and joy, Meah Bordenave-Jenkins’ vibrant young life was suddenly and horrifically taken, two others were injured and a community was ripped apart because of senseless gun violence,” Hochman said in a statement July 17.
Sheriff Robert Luna told reporters July 16 that detectives were still searching for the suspect or suspects in the killing of 37-year-old community violence intervention advocate Eric Washington and the shooting of another male victim who survived in what appears to be an unrelated attack moments earlier at the apartment complex in the 700 block of West Laurel Street.
Washington, 37, most recently served as a field deputy for Assemblyman Mike Gipson. He also worked with the Watts Gang Task Force and the Watts Rising Collaborative.
The sheriff said the shootings “appear to be separate and unrelated acts of violence.”
Meanwhile, detectives are also trying to determine who shot and killed Thaddeus Clark during a separate Fourth of July gathering in the 2100 block of North Grandee Avenue about 12:10 a.m. July 5, according to the sheriff.
Luna noted that the shootings occurred less than an hour apart, but said investigators have not found any evidence linking the crimes.
Washington’s mother said that her son was murdered “in a community that he considered home,” and that she didn’t understand “how that happened to my baby or why,” while Bordenave-Jenkins’ mother said her daughter was intelligent, bright and compassionate and was studying to become a neonatal trauma nurse “because she wanted to protect babies.”
In a statement, county Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell said, “while today’s announcement marks an important first step, my heart remains with all the families who lost loved ones, those who were injured and the community whose lives have been forever changed by this senseless violence.”
Anyone with information regarding either of the remaining victims — Eric Washington and Thaddeus Clark — or additional pertinent details, is urged to call the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500. Those wishing to remain anonymous can call the L.A. Regional Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-222-8477.
