'These are not kids:' St. Pete Police share insight into gang linked to Easter shooting
Articles and videos about 'These are not kids:' St. Pete Police share insight into gang linked to Easter shooting on FOX 13 Tampa Bay. The five men involved in a shooting on Easter Sunday left four people injured and three have been charged. The suspects, identified as part of the Young Gangsters (YGs), are accused of attempted murder, carrying a concealed firearm and delinquent in possession of a firearm. They also face charges related to Christopher Atkins and Willie Cookinson. The shooting occurred outside the Sonic Sports Bar and Lounge off 49th Street South. St. Pete Police are currently processing evidence from the investigation that includes 10 guns, ammunition, and over $10,000 in cash and jewelry. Rapper Rodarius Green, also known as Rod Wave, is being investigated as part-of a larger investigation.
Published : 4 weeks ago by Kailey Tracy in General
The five men who St. Petersburg Police say were involved in a shooting on Easter Sunday that left four people hurt have now all been charged.
By early Thursday morning, though, all of them had also bonded out of jail. The violence unfolded outside the Sonic Sports Bar and Lounge off 49th Street South on Sunday night.
"They ended up hitting four people that were uninvolved," Yolanda Fernandez, Public Information Manager for the St. Pete Police Department, said. "So, we're very lucky that those people weren’t killed… this could’ve been a mass shooting. It was a mass shooting, just nobody died. Something like this happened and these detectives have been working 24 hours since Sunday, just around the clock."
Police arrested three of the suspects Wednesday morning. The two others turned themselves in Wednesday night. Kevontre Wesby, Keith Wesby, Christopher Atkins and Willie Cookinson are charged with attempted murder in the second degree, and Elias Torres is charged with principal to attempt murder in the second degree. Kevontre Wesby is also charged with carrying a concealed firearm and delinquent in possession of a firearm. Cookinson is also charged with felon in possession.
The five suspects, Fernandez said, are part of the gang called the YGs, or the Young Gangsters.
"These are not kids. These are grown men. These are men in their 20s and 30s that are involved in this gang, and we’ve been kind of watching them since 2022, 2023, observing some of their activity. This is part of a bigger investigation, and all of that will be processed. All the evidence will be processed, and we'll have a better idea of what the ultimate charges are going to be," Fernandez said.
The YGs, Fernandez said, live in houses and drive cars that are registered under the name of rapper Rodarius Green, also known as Rod Wave, or his company. One of those vehicles is the one the suspects used Sunday night, police said.
"He’s a known associate. He posts with them on social media, writes songs about them. So, he’s certainly being investigated as part of this bigger investigation," Fernandez said.
St. Pete Police said while it’s too soon to tell how many other crimes the group may be involved in, they’re processing evidence from Sunday’s investigation that will help them find out. That evidence includes 10 guns, ammunition, more than $10,000 in cash and jewelry.
"We have to have probable cause in order to write a warrant, a search warrant, to be able to make an arrest. We have to be able to connect the dots. We can't just charge someone because we think they're guilty. It doesn't work that way. So, we have to be very careful in how we move forward with these cases. Now that we have all of these guns, we're able to test them, run them through our NIBIN machine, which shows us if they've been used in shootings here or anywhere else," Fernandez said.
Detectives already tied a BMW found at one of Rod Wave's two homes that officers searched to several shootings in the city. Wave was initially arrested on gun charges that were then dropped, and he was released from jail Wednesday.
"It was thought that he was a convicted felon. Therefore, it was illegal for him to have the ammunition, and that's what he was charged with. However, it was determined that his charge prior charge had been reduced to a misdemeanor, so he’s not a convicted felon and it’s his right to have ammunitions and guns," Fernandez said.
Fernandez said police are looking at Wave as part of a bigger investigation, but he doesn’t face any charges right now. Police said there will be more charges filed and there will be more people going to jail before this is all over.
Sunday’s incident is still under investigation, and a motive hasn’t been determined.
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Topics: Crime, Organized Crime