Authorities say the investigation is so sensitive they can’t say anything specific about his involvement Halloween night. Dones is accused of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. He also has a prior felony conviction for second degree robbery in Santa Clara County.
That prior felony conviction means Dones is prohibited from owning firearms legally, but even California’s restrictive gun control laws were apparently no obstacle for Dones to illegally acquire his guns.
Dones was one of two suspects arrested last week in connection with the shootings, which police believe were sparked by rival gang members at the party. The other, 29-year old Frederick Johnson, has also been charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Five people were arrested November 14 in connection with the shooting. Dones and Johnson were not included in the initial arrests. Four of the five were released from jail Monday because the District Attorney’s Office declined to charge them, according to CNN affiliate KGO-TV. The fifth man, Lebraun Tyree Wallace, 28, remains jailed on a probation violation, Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office said.
The killings in Orinda have largely dropped off the national news media’s radar, along with the shooting in Fresno a few days later that left four people dead and six others injured. As my colleague Jazz Shaw pointed out at Hot Air not long ago, gun control activists and the media quickly lost interest in these deaths when it became apparent that the deaths weren’t the “right kind of crimes” to warrant extended national coverage.
In other words, this mass shooting is uninteresting to much of the media because it fails all the normal tests and doesn’t fit in with the narrative. Had the men at least been using “assault rifles” they might have merited a bit more coverage. But those events are vanishingly rare because most gang members are well aware that it’s tough to hide a long gun when walking down the street to attack someone or while fleeing the scene afterward.
In Fresno, by the way, they’re still searching for the suspects in the backyard shooting, but so far have made no arrests. If and when they do, would anybody be surprised if the suspects are also prohibited by law from possessing firearms?
California’s gun control laws are targeting legal gun owners, not violent criminals. And while lawmakers and voters are busy passing more laws that restrict the right to keep and bear arms, they’re also approving measures that let violent felons escape portions of their prison sentences in return for early release to the streets. The “soft on crime, tough on legal gun ownership” strategy doesn’t appear to be doing much to reduce gang violence in the state, or illegal gun possession by gang members, but lawmakers don’t seem to care. They’re too busy targeting gun shows and “ghost guns” to get serious about the violent criminals and their heinous acts.
