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Rock Hill police arrest 12 suspected gang members

On Thursday, 80 officers from a number of agencies worked together to arrest 12 suspects police said are tied to two rival gangs, 715 FAM and 901 KOB.

All the suspects are between 16 and 23 years old and two of them were arrested at their high schools.

"When you look at some of their mugshots you say, 'Those are kids,'" said Executive Officer Mark Bollinger.

In addition to drive-by shootings against each other, police said the two gangs were also responsible for other crimes.
 
Investigators said members of the 715 FAM were involved in a recent deadly shooting on Cedar Grove Lane.  

Police also said members of the group were responsible for carjacking a woman at gunpoint earlier this month on Gladstone Court and with pistol-whipping and stealing cellphones from a group of Winthrop students on Ebenezer Avenue in October.

Rock Hill police are not sure who's in charge of the 901 KOB gang, but identified 20-year-old Antonio Wiley as the leader of 715 FAM.  

In previous interviews with newspaper partner the Herald in Rock Hill, Wiley said 715 FAM is a rap group and not a gang.  

Channel 9 went to Green Street where police said 715 FAM originated and some of its members live. 

A neighbor said he doesn't believe they are a gang either.

"I don't know where the gang part comes in,"  he said. "Just the rapping part, that's all I've seen."

But police said the evidence says otherwise.

"They do songs and put them out on YouTube, but then they have this other life that probably some of their families don't even know about it," said Bollinger.

Police said as a suspected gang leader, Wiley also violates state gang laws and could face additional charges from the state attorney general.

During the gang roundup officers also recovered a stolen shotgun, pistol, 70 grams of marijuana and 60 cellphones.