OAKLAND – The third suspect in the fatal 2021 shooting of TV news crew security guard and retired police officer Kevin Nishita has been extradited to Alameda County after his arrest in Missouri two weeks ago, police said Tuesday.
Laron Gilbert was scheduled to be booked Tuesday afternoon at Santa Rita Jail, where he will be held without bail, authorities said. He did not have an arraignment scheduled in court as of Tuesday morning.
Like the other two suspects — Shadihia Mitchell and Hershel Hale — Gilbert has been charged with murder, attempted second degree robbery and assault with a semi-automatic firearm. Mitchell and Hale have pleaded not guilty and are facing a jury trial set to begin Feb. 7.
U.S. Marshals took Gilbert into custody Jan. 17 in Blue Springs, Mo., near Kansas City, federal authorities said. Oakland investigators flew to Missouri after his arrest but he declined to talk to them, authorities said.
Authorities have not said how they learned Gilbert was in Missouri.
The trio are accused of gunning down Nishita during the attempted robbery of a KRON-TV news crew on Nov. 24, 2021. Nishita died three days after the shooting.
At the time of the incident, Nishita was working for Star Protection Agency as a guard for the news crew. 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 shortly 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.
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Woods claimed that Gilbert, not Mitchell, is 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.
Last month, Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price also dropped sentencing enhancements that would have made the trio eligible for life without parole. She did not offer a public explanation for the move.
Gilbert, Mitchell and Hale face 25 years to life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder charges, as well as additional years if they are also found guilty of lesser charges of robbery, assault with a firearm and gun possession.
