BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — Seven years after the tragic death of 5-year-old Kason Guyton, prosecutors said his brutal killing was the result of a disagreement between rival gangs hours prior.
Years of evidence, presented in court, detail all the prosecution found to implicate 35-year-old Jonathan Knight as the shooter who killed 5-year-old Kason Guyton and shot his 7-year-old brother Bryan Guyton Jr. in the leg.
The shooting took place in February 2017 and prosecutor Eric Smith says it stemmed from an earlier altercation at the Valley Plaza mall between rival gang members of the West Side Crips and East Side Crips.
Knight and co-defendant, Jeremy King, who pleaded guilty earlier this month to voluntary manslaughter and is expected to testify, are both West Side Crips gang members. According to Smith, hours after the altercation Knight and King drove and followed the vehicle in which Kayson was in, and Knight, fired 16 shots from the front passenger side.
“Jonathan Knight is guilty of the murder of Kason Guyton, the murder of a five-year-old,” said Prosecutor Eric Smith. “Murder based on a disagreement that happened at a mall, that led to the death of a five-year-old.”