Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price has announced new charges for the three men accused of killing retired Bay Area police officer Kevin Nishita in 2021. 

Laron Gilbert, 29, Hershel Hale, 26, and Shadihia Mitchell, 27, are all facing charges of murder, attempted robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. 

Also, all three are charged with gun and gang enhancement, Price said in a news release Friday. 

“The previous prosecutors who charged the case under my predecessor made mistakes about who was responsible for Mr. Nishita’s murder and failed to include some charges,” Price said. “At my direction, our team reevaluated the evidence, discovered those mistakes, and resubmitted the charges to ensure that the men whom we believe committed these crimes will be held fully accountable.”

Mitchell was originally accused of firing the shot that killed Nishita but the newly filed criminal complaint alleges Gilbert was “the actual killer.” 

The three defendants will be tried together and are scheduled to enter pleas on March 8.

If convicted, Gilbert faces up to 189 years to life in prison, Hale faces 151 years to life and Mitchell faces 78 years to life, according to Price. 

An undated photograph of security guard Kevin Nishita that was posted on social media Saturday, Nov. 27. Nishita, a retired police officer, was fatally shot while on assignment in Oakland. (Photo courtesy of Stanley Roberts/Twitter)

Nishita was killed while working as a security guard protecting a KRON-TV news crew on assignment at 14th and Webster streets in Oakland on Nov. 24, 2021. 

Mitchell and Hale were arrested about a month after the killing and have been in custody ever since, but Gilbert remained at large until Jan. 17, when he was apprehended by the U.S. Marshals Service in Kansas City, Missouri.

The trio, who are suspected of being in a San Francisco street gang, were originally charged with murder, attempted second-degree robbery, assault with a semi-automatic firearm and a special allegation of felony murder.

Kiley Russell writes primarily for Local News Matters on issues related to equity and the environment. A Bay Area native, he has lived most of his life in Oakland. He studied journalism at San Francisco State University, worked for the Associated Press and the former Contra Costa Times, among other outlets. He has covered everything from state legislatures, local governments, federal and state courts, crime, growth and development, political campaigns of various stripes, wildfires and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.