Two Pasadena Apartment-Complex Murder Cases Reach Courtrooms Today

Two murder cases stemming from fatal shootings at Pasadena apartment complexes — both from August 2023, 13 days apart — are set for court proceedings today at two different Los Angeles County courthouses.

The cases share a grim outline: a shooting inside a Pasadena apartment complex, a woman killed, a suspect arrested and charged with murder. But they diverge in the details, and nearly three years later, they are following different legal paths.

Mark Anthony Levels, 54, is scheduled for a hearing at 8:30 a.m. in Department F of the Pasadena Courthouse, 300 E. Walnut St. Levels is charged with murder in the shooting death of Tynisha Houston, 34, a fellow tenant at an apartment complex in the 2000 block of North Fair Oaks Avenue, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

Houston was shot at approximately 1:10 a.m. on August 8, 2023, after a tenant dispute in a common area of the complex escalated from a verbal argument to a physical altercation and then to gunfire, according to the Pasadena Police Department. She was transported to a local hospital, where she died. Levels was found by patrol officers at the complex shortly after the shooting and arrested without incident. He had sustained injuries during the physical altercation that preceded the shooting and was transported to a local hospital following his arrest, according to police. Detectives executed a search warrant and recovered a firearm at the scene.

The DA’s office filed a murder charge on August 10, 2023. Bail was set at $3.1 million, according to police.

In the second case, a mental competency hearing is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. for Guary Lonnie Shuford III at Department 103 of the Hollywood Courthouse, 5925 Hollywood Blvd. Department 103 is designated by the Los Angeles Superior Court as a competency and judicial commitment courtroom, according to Pasadena Now. Earlier hearings in Shuford’s case had been held at the Pasadena Courthouse.

Shuford is charged with one count each of murder and possession of a firearm by a felon in the death of Jamila Elysse Moss, 34, a Pasadena resident. He has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 66 years to life in prison, according to the DA’s office.

Moss was found with fatal injuries in an exterior area of a 347-unit apartment complex in the 200 block of South Raymond Avenue on the morning of August 21, 2023, after Pasadena police received multiple 911 calls reporting gunshots shortly after 10 a.m., according to the Pasadena Police Department. Witnesses reported hearing two separate bursts of gunfire, according to Pasadena Now. Moss was pronounced dead at the scene.

Shuford allegedly barricaded himself inside Moss’s apartment unit after the shooting, triggering a standoff that lasted approximately eight hours and involved SWAT teams and crisis negotiators from both the Pasadena and Glendale police departments, according to police. Hundreds of nearby residents were evacuated from the complex, and Metro A Line rail service was interrupted between the Fillmore and Memorial Park stations during the incident. Shuford surrendered without incident at approximately 6:12 p.m. and has remained in custody since his arrest, according to police.

Pasadena police identified the shooting as an apparent act of domestic violence, stating that detectives confirmed Moss and Shuford were in a romantic relationship, according to Lt. Monica Cuellar, a department spokeswoman at the time of the incident.

Shuford was on parole for a 2010 second-degree robbery conviction at the time of the shooting, according to police and court records. He was also out on bail for a separate charge of possession of a firearm by a felon filed in July 2023, according to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. Bail in the murder case was set at $3.075 million.