Alleged gang member pleads not guilty in California killings

A man with alleged ties to a California prison gang has pleaded not guilty to killing six people, including a teenage mother and her baby, last month at a central California home connected to a rival gang

California Home Shooting (Tulare County Sheriff's Office)

A man with alleged ties to a California prison gang pleaded not guilty Tuesday to killing six people, including a teenage mother and her baby, last month at a central California home connected to a rival gang, prosecutors said.

Rural Goshen, a community of about 3,000 people in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley, was stunned by the Jan. 16 massacre.

Angel Uriarte, 35, pleaded not guilty Tuesday and remains held without bail. He had been hospitalized in custody after he was wounded in a shootout with federal agents more than two weeks after the killings.

Uriarte's co-defendant, 25-year-old Noah David Beard, pleaded not guilty earlier this month. Authorities say he shot Alissa Parraz, 16, and her 10-month-old baby, Nycholas Parraz, in the back of their heads.

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

Uriarte's attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. Beard's lawyer declined to comment.

The defendants are scheduled to return to court March 15.

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.

Authorities have not disclosed the reason for the shooting, but the Los Angeles Times reported that it occurred after years of bad blood between two warring families in Goshen.

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