Prosecutors charge two with first-degree murder, lying in wait in Santa Rosa bar shooting

Sonoma County prosecutors on Wednesday charged two men with first-degree murder, adding a special allegation that they laid in wait for their victim before shooting him outside a west Santa Rosa bar Saturday night.

In addition to murder, the men were charged with attempted murder on a second, uninjured victim, whom police had not previously disclosed, and conspiracy to commit murder.

The lying in wait allegation ratchets up the potential punishment for Fogatia Fuiava, 29, and Ednie Afamasaga, 27, both of Santa Rosa, from 25-years-to-life in prison to life without parole or the death penalty.

Both men are being held without bail at Sonoma County Jail.

Surveillance camera footage of the shooting showed two men with handguns firing at Kenneth McDaniel in the parking lot at Whiskey Tip, a bar on Sebastopol Road, police said. McDaniel, 27, of Santa Rosa was shot multiple times and died shortly thereafter at a local hospital.

In the criminal complaint, prosecutors allege that Fuiava and Afamasaga watched McDaniel inside the bar, left the bar together after McDaniel, hid behind parked vehicles in the parking lot of the bar and waited for McDaniel to appear.

Santa Rosa police said McDaniel, Fuiava and Afamasaga knew each other but were not friends. They had all attended a rap concert at the bar and there were “some words exchanged” between them at some point.

Outside, around 9:15 p.m., the suspects “targeted” McDaniel as he was getting into his truck, police and the bar owner said, and both fired multiple times.

The attempted murder charge alleges that the second victim, listed as John Doe in court filings for safety reasons, was in the line of fire. He was not injured by gunfire.

The man was in his late 20s, Santa Rosa Police Sgt. Chris Mahurin said.

“He was not associated with the conflict and happened to be in the parking lot to pick somebody else up,” Mahurin said.

Santa Rosa police, with help from the Sonoma County Sheriff’s SWAT team, arrested Fuiava at 2:45 a.m. Monday at his residence on Anteeo Way in Santa Rosa.

Police said they found other evidence related to the shooting at the residence, but didn’t describe it further.

Afamasaga was arrested about 4:15 p.m. Tuesday following a traffic stop. Investigators searched a home on Brookwood Avenue, just down the street from police headquarters, and found other unspecified evidence.

Appearing in court via video conference on Wednesday, Afamasaga at first said he wanted a lawyer appointed for him. But then a man who identified himself as Afamasaga’s uncle said he had retained an attorney for his nephew.

Afamasaga has no criminal history in Sonoma County.

Fuiava has a prior “strike” on his record, from a 2009 shooting incident when he was 17, according to court records. He was charged as an adult with attempted murder, eventually pleading to assault with a firearm and being sentenced to three years in prison.

You can reach Staff Writer Lori A. Carter at 707-521-5470 or lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @loriacarter.