OAKLAND — In early 2024, police around the Bay Area united for a huge manhunt that resulted in the arrests of four men allegedly connected to the cannabis grow burglary and related killing of Oakland police Officer Tuan Le.
But federal prosecutors say the four men charged in Le’s killing only comprised part of the burglary crew that night. Four others — identified in the indictment as Janiero Booth, Jowaun Jones, Shawn McGee and Salvador Munguia — were also allegedly involved. After the homicide, prosecutors say they continued to commit crimes as if nothing had happened.
Now, all four, plus Allen Starr Brown, Sebron Russell, Marquise Cooper, have been charged in federal court with conspiring to burglarize a marijuana grow house at 499 Embarcadero in Oakland, a burglary so brazen that Brown, Russell, and alleged cohort Mark Sanders stole hundreds of plants, drove all the way to Tracy to stash them, returned for a second hall, then called Jones, McGee, Munguia, and Booth to help transport even more. Sanders, the alleged killer of Le, has been noticeably left off of the federal indictment but he faces first degree murder charges in Alameda County.
Brown, Russell and Cooper were also charged alongside Sanders, though the case was dismissed against Cooper — the alleged lookout — at a preliminary hearing last year, court records show. Now, federal prosecutors are taking a crack at the prosecution, charging not just the seven alleged burglars, but Sanders’ mother, Felicia Williams, and his girlfriend, Jasmine Kumar, with arranging to fly him out to Atlanta, to avoid arrest.
Felicia Williams also uses the last name Sanders, according to court records.
Now prosecutors have moved to detain the male defendants, alleging that even after Le’s killing, several defendants “continued undeterred” committing crimes like gun possession, felony evasion, and even ramming a police car during a getaway attempt, “despite knowing that their actions had contributed to the murder of a police officer.” Kumar and Williams have already been released from jail.
Subsequent crimes include a 2024 incident when Booth allegedly backed into a police car on purpose and drove onto a sidewalk when an officer tried to pull him over for “multiple traffic violations,” authorities allege. He even attempted to get out of the car and run away after police pinned him, but was unsuccessful. More recently, on Dec. 1, he was arrested after a 100 miles per hour police chase, and police found him hiding in a shed, the prosecution motion says.
“You will do whatever to keep your freedom,” Booth allegedly explained to the arresting officers.
In 2022, Booth was arrested for allegedly violation probation by possessing a gun at a curbside memorial for an Oakland homicide victim named Elijah Henry, authorities said.
Federal prosecutors have already filed a gun case against McGee, alleging that in August 2024 he threw a short-barrel AR-style rifle, loaded with 63 bullets, out the window of a car during a police chase through San Leandro streets. He was also named as one of seven people suspected of burglarizing a restaurant in October of that year, authorities allege.
Similarly, Jones was named as a suspect — but never charged — in two Union City burglaries from last September, according to court records. His name also came up during the investigation into the homicide of raper Too Short’s brother, Wayne Shaw, when police realized that a phone linked to the suspect had been contacted by Jones throughout the day of the homicide, according to court records. The suspect, Maijji Jackson, has avoided murder charges thus far. As police attempted to figure out who owned the phone that had contacted him that day, they discovered Instagram pages allegedly run by Jones, under the brand name “Jungle Life,” including one that advertised cannabis for sale, according to authorities.
On Dec. 29, 2023, the morning Le was killed, Cooper allegedly acted as a lookout while Brown, Starr, and Sanders, allegedly used a crowbar to break into the cannabis grow house and steal hundreds of plants. Prosecutors say they stashed the plants at Tracy, returned to the site, and then called in the remaining men for help loading more plants. Simultaneously, Oakland police organized an undercover crew to surveil the scene, which included Le.
Sanders allegedly fired as many as 20 shots at Le as he trailed them in an undercover police truck, authorities allege. Le was shot in the head.
The multiple burglaries occurred from around 1 a.m. to 4:30 a.m. that morning, according to police. Over the next several days, into 2024, police launched a massive manhunt that resulted in Sanders, Brown, Russell, and Cooper being arrested. Williams was also arrested on suspicion of accessory but released without charges, records show.
In 2014, Sanders was charged as a juvenile with murdering an 18-year-old man during a shootout in Oakland. He later pleaded no contest to manslaughter and was released from prison within five years, authorities said.
