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Slaying suspect arrested in Eureka
RICHMOND: Police link Bonner, 26, to shooting last month at the corner of Sixth Street and Chanslor Avenue

By Karl Fischer
CONTRA COSTA TIMES

Humboldt County authorities over the weekend arrested a man sought by Richmond detectives in connection with a killing last month in the Iron Triangle neighborhood.

Eureka police investigating reports of a man exposing himself in public about 11:30 a.m. Sunday instead found 26-year-old Ronald Bonner on the 2300 block of A Street.

"He was not exposing himself when the officer arrived," Eureka police spokeswoman Suzie Owsley said. "However, after the officer got his name, we learned he had a million-dollar warrant for his arrest from Richmond."

Richmond sought Bonner on suspicion of shooting 26-year-old Jonathan Armstrong on Sept. 21 near the corner of Sixth Street and Chanslor Avenue. Police found Armstrong's body in the street about 2:45 a.m., across the street from Lincoln Elementary School.

Detectives say they have evidence that Bonner killed Armstrong in one of many retaliatory shootings between North Richmond and Iron Triangle street factions last month. Police attribute at least five homicides and several more shootings to the dispute.

Bonner might have been visiting a woman in Eureka, police said.

"Apparently he comes up here every once in a while," said Richmond Detective Nicole Abetkov, reached Monday afternoon while driving to Eureka. "Humboldt County is getting familiar with our (street-crime suspects), because for whatever reason they keep coming up here."

The suspect's uncle, 47-year-old Donald Bonner, died July 22 in a Richmond drive-by shooting on the 300 block of Fourth Street. Sheila Givens, 42, also died in the July 22 attack.

Tragedy also struck the Bonner family in June 2005, when a shooting at a gas station on the corner of Harbour Way and Cutting Boulevard claimed the suspect's brother, 14-year-old Dante Bonner, inside a car driven by Ronald Bonner.

Ronald Bonner told police he was driving his younger brother around the city about 4 a.m., counseling him on how to avoid street life, when they pulled into the station. Someone reached through the window and fired several rounds from a handgun into the Helms Middle School student's skull, police said.

On Sunday, at the request of Richmond police, Eureka police searched a residence where Ronald Bonner stayed and found a firearm, police said. Richmond detectives drove to Eureka on Monday to pick up the suspect from Humboldt County Jail and bring him back to Contra Costa County.

Reach Karl Fischer at 510-262-2728 or kfischer@cctimes.com.