A major fugitive wanted on outstanding state charges for murder has been arrested by a team of law enforcement officers led by U.S. Marshals in East Palo Alto, California. Kafoa M. Hefa, 20, was being sought on a warrant issued in Seattle charging him with murder. Hefa was arrested on April 3, 2007 in East Palo Alto, California by investigators serving on the U.S. Marshal sponsored Northern California Fugitive Task Force (NCTF) in conjunction with members of the California State Parole Fugitive Apprehension Team, the East Palo Alto Police Department, and the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office. Charging documents state, that on March 21, 2007, Hefa and other members of the Rainier Beach area “Down With The Crew” gang were playing dice at 4801 Rainier Avenue South in Seattle with Randy West and associated members of the rival “Central District Pyrus” gang. An argument ensued between Hefa and West over a forty dollar bet, and according to numerous witnesses, Hefa produced a handgun and shot West twice in the torso, fatally wounding him. Friday, March 23rd, witnesses observed four car loads of suspected rival gang members get out of their vehicles and shoot over 80 rounds into the home of Hefa’s parents located in SeaTac, Washington in an apparent retaliation for the killing. Hefa’s parents and grandmother had left the residence only minutes earlier and narrowly avoided the shooting. The Seattle Police Department requested the assistance of the Pacific Northwest Fugitive Apprehension Task Force (PNWFAT) in locating and apprehending Hefa. Based on information developed by the PNWFAT, a lead was sent to the U.S. Marshal’s Office in San Jose and the NCTF began to investigate the case. After conducting days of surveillance at various locations in northern California, NCTF investigators located Hefa in East Palo Alto, CA and safely took him into custody. Hefa was booked into to the San Mateo County Jail where he is awaiting extradition to Washington for the murder charges. The PNWFAT is a U.S. Marshals-sponsored partnership comprised of investigators from the King County Sheriff's Office, Seattle Police Department, Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General, Washington State Department of Corrections, Washington State Patrol, and the U.S. Marshals Service. The Task Force is supported by the Project Safe Neighborhoods Initiative and was formed to concentrate apprehension efforts to remove federal, state and local fugitives from the streets. The Task Force objective is to disrupt illegal gang, gun and drug activity in the Pacific Northwest and to reduce the amount of violence in the region. For additional information on other major case fugitives, go to the U.S. Marshals Service’s website at www.usmarshals.gov or U.S. Marshal’s Western Washington website at www.usmarshals.gov/district/wa-w. For additional information on the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Initiative, go to the PSN website at www.psn.gov. For information on the apprehension, call Acting U.S. Marshal David Miller at 206-370-8602; for information on the criminal case, call the King County Prosecutor’s Office at 206-296-9000.