A suspect in three Bay Area murders was arrested Tuesday night in Coos Bay, Ore., the U.S. Marshals Service said today.
Johnathan Walker, 20, was arrested at 1601 Idaho Ave. in Coos Bay around 9:20 p.m., said Cory Cunningham, a spokesman for the Oregon District of the U.S Marshals Service.
Walker is a suspect in the Vallejo murders of Charles Chandler II, 19, on June 19, 2008, and of Michael C. Ross, 22, on June 23 of this year. Both men were shot at close range, Vallejo police said.
Walker also is suspected of killing 19-year-old Robert O’ Bryant and shooting another man who survived at a party in the 1600 block of Kirkwood Avenue in San Francisco’s Bayview District on Jan. 25 of this year.
Walker, also known as “John-John,” barricaded himself at the Idaho Avenue address in Coos Bay while the Oregon State Police SWAT team served a search warrant Tuesday night, Cunningham said.
He surrendered 30 minutes later and was booked in Coos Bay County Jail on felony warrants for murder and a parole violation, Cunningham said.
The Marshals Service’s Oregon Fugitive Task Force received information from the its Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task in California that Walker was hiding out with friends in the Coos Bay area, Cunningham said.
The Oregon Fugitive Task Force and Coos Bay police identified the Idaho Avenue location where Walker was and positively identified him inside the residence, Cunningham said.
“This residence popped up. We got lucky,” Cunningham said.
Walker was on parole for a robbery in California. Vallejo police issued two warrants for his arrest on July 12.
Vallejo police Lt. Ken Weaver said that Chandler had been riding a mountain bike to visit a friend at Vallejo’s Marina Vista Apartments at 201 Maine St. three years ago when Walker allegedly approached him and shot him at close range. Chandler died at the scene.
Ross was standing in a parking lot at the Sonoma Apartments on Porter Street in Vallejo last month, Weaver said, when Walker allegedly approached him and shot him.
Walker allegedly fled in a Honda Accord that was recovered June 26 in the 100 block of Mulberry Street in Vallejo.
James Lanaras, Bay City News
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