Father of 4-year-old killed in drive-by shooting among 10 indicted in gang raids

FBI, SAPD officials blame ongoing East Side violence on gang rivalry

SAN ANTONIO – Court documents and officials are shedding light on an ongoing, violent gang rivalry that may be tied to the death of 4-year-old De-Earlvion Whitley.

On Friday, ten men were indicted as part of a joint FBI and San Antonio Police operation to combat violence on the East Side.

Joseph Hammond; Earl Whitley Jr.; Jamel Shercone Whitley; Dai’Vonte Ross; Jovon Stewart; Paul Low; James Bilal Ali; Spurgeon Williams; Joseph Lake and Alvin Clark are all charged with distribution and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than 28 grams of cocaine base.

RELATED: 4-year-old boy killed, mother wounded in drive-by shooting 

Eight of the men appeared in federal court Friday morning following a series of raids. The ninth, Hammond, was in the Bexar County Jail on a drug possession charge. Records show he was convicted in October. The tenth, Jamel Shercone Whitley, was arrested around 2 p.m. Friday after the eight men appeared in federal court.

One of the men named in the indictment is Earl Whitley Jr., De-Earlvion’s father.

Prosecutors said the men were all part of the same gang whose rivalry with another gang has caused much of the violence on the East Side. 

RELATED: Mother whose child killed in drive-by seeks justice in son's death 

The rival gang, prosecutors said, is led by Charles Bethany, who was arrested in July on drug and firearm charges. 

In July, authorities confiscated home surveillance footage while raiding a drug stash house in the 600 block of J Street -- believed to be Bethany's stash house.

RELATED: Feds arrest 2 possibly linked to investigation of shooting death of 4-year-old boy 

According to a criminal complaint, surveillance footage from inside Bethany's stash house -- along with footage from a pole-camera pointed at the alleged stash house -- connects, though not directly, others to the drive-by shooting that claimed De-Earlvion's life on July 19.

Bethany, Tramone Anderson, Dakota Peppers and John Chatman were arrested earlier this year on charges related to the killing of De-Earlvion. The men, however, are not directly charged with De-Earlvion's murder.

Surveillance footage from inside Bethany's stash house shows the men were in the house before and after the drive by shooting.


About the Authors:

Garrett Brnger is a reporter with KSAT 12.