Â鶹´«Ã½

Skip to main content

Man pleads not guilty to killing 6 at California home

In this photo provided by the Tulare County Sheriff's Office, Tulare Sheriff's deputies take known gang member Noah David Beard into custody. (Tulare County Sheriff's Office via AP) In this photo provided by the Tulare County Sheriff's Office, Tulare Sheriff's deputies take known gang member Noah David Beard into custody. (Tulare County Sheriff's Office via AP)
Share
PORTERVILLE, Calif. -

An alleged gang member pleaded not guilty Tuesday to killing six people, including a teen mother and her baby, last month at a central California home associated with a rival gang, prosecutors said.

The Jan. 16 massacre shocked rural Goshen, a community of about 3,000 people in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley.

Noah David Beard, 25, was arraigned Tuesday and is being held without bail, according to the Tulare County District Attorney's Office. Authorities say he shot Alissa Parraz, 16, and her 10-month-old baby, Nycholas Parraz, in the back of their heads.

Beard is scheduled to return to court Feb. 16. The Tulare County Public Defender's Office, which is representing him, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Beard's alleged accomplice, 35-year-old Angel "Nanu" Uriarte, remains hospitalized in custody after he was wounded in the shootout with federal agents last week. His arraignment has not been scheduled.

Both are charged with six counts of murder and other crimes. They each face a potential sentence of the death penalty or life in prison without parole.

Investigators believe the two suspects have ties to the Nuestra Familia prison gang. Uriarte was convicted in 2015 of assault with a firearm in association with a street gang, and Beard had juvenile convictions, prosecutors said in a court filing.

The suspects and members of the victims' family have a long history of gang violence but the motive for the shooting "is not exactly clear," Boudreaux said at a news conference last week.

The other victims were identified as: Rosa Parraz, 72; Eladio Parraz, Jr., 52; Jennifer Analla, 49; and Marcos Parraz, 19.

The Goshen killings were part of a violent and deadly month in California.

On Jan. 21, a gunman killed 11 people and wounded nine others at a Monterey Park dance hall before later killing himself. And on Jan. 23, authorities said a farmworker killed seven people in back-to-back shootings at two Northern California mushroom farms.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Indigenous Affairs Minister Greg Rickford released a statement Monday marking the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, acknowledging what they described as the 'painful legacy' of the residential school system.

A pedestrian has died after reportedly getting struck by an OPP cruiser in Bala early Sunday morning.

The union representing longshore workers at the Port of Montreal began a three-day strike at two terminals.

Local Spotlight

A tale about a taxicab hauling gold and sinking through the ice on Larder Lake, Ont., in December 1937 has captivated a man from that town for decades.

When a group of B.C. filmmakers set out on a small fishing boat near Powell River last week, they hoped to capture some video for a documentary on humpback whales. What happened next blew their minds.

A pizza chain in Edmonton claims to have the world's largest deliverable pizza.

Sarah McLachlan is returning to her hometown of Halifax in November.

Wayne MacKay is still playing basketball twice at Mount Allison University at 87 years old.

A man from a small rural Alberta town is making music that makes people laugh.

An Indigenous artist has a buyer-beware warning ahead of Sept. 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Police are looking to the public for help after thieves broke into a Lethbridge ice creamery, stealing from the store.

An ordinary day on the job delivering mail in East Elmwood quickly turned dramatic for Canada Post letter carrier Jared Plourde. A woman on his route was calling out in distress.