PUBLISHED: March 28, 2022 at 4:48 p.m. | UPDATED: March 28, 2022 at 4:49 p.m.

OAKLAND — Police arrested a 23-year-old man in Fresno earlier this month, in connection with a January gun battle involving more than a dozen rival gang members, which killed a bystander who was dropping off food for a friend.

Billy Deon Williams was charged with murdering 38-year-old John Avalos, of San Lorenzo, in the Jan. 21 gunfight. He is in Santa Rita Jail in Dublin on a no-bail hold and has not yet entered a plea but is scheduled to do so on March 30, records show.

Police have identified Williams as a suspected gang member, and say he was one of 14 people involved in the mass shooting between two rival Oakland gangs. William himself was struck by gunfire, along with two others.

An estimate 200 rounds were fired.

Police say Avalos was dropping off food for a friend who was quarantined with COVID-19 and lived on the 10700 block of Apricot Street. Avalos had no known connection to the parties involved in the shootout. He died from a gunshot wound to the head.

Williams was identified as a suspect from surveillance that showed him pulling a suspected firearm at the beginning of the conflict, according to a sworn statement written by an Oakland police investigator. He drove up in a car that appeared to be the same as one he was driving two months later, when police in Antioch arrested him on suspicion of possessing a firearm.

On March 4, police arrested Williams in Fresno, and attempted to interview him. He refused to talk and requested a lawyer, according to court records.

The criminal complaint charges William with the lone murder count, not in connection with any of the other people who were injured. He was on probation for a burglary conviction when the homicide took place, according to prosecutors.