Gang member gets life in double murder

VISTA (CNS) – A gang member who fatally shot a teenage couple in an
Oceanside park in a retaliation attack was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison
without the possibility of parole.

AL'C Bejaran, 21, pleaded guilty last month to two counts of murder and
admitted a special circumstance allegation of multiple murders in the May 3,
2011, shooting deaths of 14-year-old Sandra Salgado and 16-year-old Fernando
Solano at Libby Lake Park.

Justin Gibson, 21, and Kenneth Hamilton, 36, pleaded guilty to voluntary
manslaughter in the attack and admitted gang allegations and being
vicariously armed with a firearm. They each will be sentenced to 20-year prison
terms at a Jan. 14 hearing.

Patrol officers found the teens' bodies at the Calle Montecito Street
open-space area about 10:30 p.m. on May 3, 2011, while responding to reports of
gunfire.

The teens, who relatives said were boyfriend and girlfriend, had no gang
ties, police said.

According to previous court testimony, Hamilton and Gibson — members of
a predominately black gang — said they went to the park in rival Hispanic
gang territory with Bejaran the night of the murders.

Hamilton told detectives they were smoking marijuana when Bejaran
spotted them on a hillside and shot them.

Bejaran's girlfriend testified that he wanted revenge for an attack on
Hamilton days earlier.

A fourth gang member, Tyrone Blackmon, pleaded guilty to being an
accessory after the fact and was sentenced to four years in prison.