The alleged Oakland gang leader was on a revenge mission after the murder of his brother, police say. Now the government has taken over the case

OAKLAND — A man who allegedly cut off his ankle bracelet and escaped from parole just three days after serving a 17-year prison sentence has been charged with violating a federal firearms law, court records show.

Terrance King, 30, was arrested after police received a tip that he had come to the Bay Area from Southern California to search for his brother's killer in Oakland while King was still in prison. When authorities caught up with him in San Leandro, he was allegedly carrying a bag containing an AK-47 pistol and trying to evade arrest, prosecutors allege.

King was initially charged with violating probation and illegal possession of a firearm, and now faces federal charges of possessing a firearm as a felon. To keep King in prison while the case is pending, prosecutors not only labeled him an Oakland “gang leader,” but also said ballistics experts had found a “tentative link” between the gun and three previous shootings that occurred before King's release, including a June 19 mass shooting in Oakland.

King's attorney in the state's case filed court documents saying King had no nefarious intentions but had come to the Bay Area to gather his family and leave the area.

A federal judge approved King's detention, citing the facts of the case and King's alleged gang membership.

King was one of 17 alleged members of the Oakland-based Case Gang arrested in 2013. The defendants faced charges ranging from robbery and assault to pimping. King eventually accepted a plea deal and was sentenced to 17 years in prison, records show.

Last April, King's 25-year-old brother, Hodari Lyons, was shot and killed in the 6900 block of Hamilton Street in East Oakland. When prison officials and authorities learned that Lyons was King's brother, a group of officers from the Oakland Police Department, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and a parole officer met with King in prison to dissuade him from retaliating, according to authorities.

King was released on parole in Southern California on June 28. On July 1, police said, he had removed his ankle bracelet and was wanted on an arrest warrant.