2 Admit Accomplice Roles in Henry Peco Case : Crime: Both say he fired rifle before being killed by police. The incident caused outrage at Imperial Courts housing project.

Two men arrested in connection with the fatal police shooting of Henry Peco at a Watts housing project last year pleaded guilty Monday to separate charges of attempted murder and hiding the rifle that Peco allegedly fired at a group of officers.

Marlon Kirkwood, 21, admitted in Los Angeles Municipal Court that he was with Peco at the Imperial Courts housing project in November and saw Peco shoot a rifle several times into a group of people. Kirkwood pleaded guilty to one count of attempted murder for firing a shot from a .38-caliber revolver toward the group, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Bill Gravlin.

Kevin M. Jenkins, 18, also said in court that he saw Peco fire a rifle toward a crowd. Jenkins said he removed Peco’s rifle from the scene after Peco was hit by return fire from the group of police officers. Jenkins pleaded guilty to one count of being an accessory to the shooting, Gravlin said.

Six police officers had responded to a report of shots fired at Imperial Courts on Nov. 29 and reportedly saw Peco open fire on them with an AK-47 assault rifle. Peco, 28, was shot five times by police. The gun he allegedly fired has not been found.

The incident touched off a high-profile campaign by some tenants who complained that the shooting and a subsequent police sweep at the project typified ongoing harassment and disrespectful treatment by police. Members of the Henry Peco Justice Committee contend that Peco was unarmed and was shot without provocation by police as he walked across the courtyard.

Theresa Allison, Peco’s aunt and the co-chairwoman of the justice committee, said she was outraged by the pleas. Police “used another black child to clear their own path. . . . Those babies were fed the wrong milk,” she said, referring to Kirkwood and Jenkins.

Capt. David Gascon, commanding officer of the Southeast Division, said that the guilty pleas “indicate that we were telling it exactly the way it happened. Hopefully this will put that rather miserable chapter behind us and we can now build relations with the community.”

Kirkwood and Jenkins, who were arrested Dec. 10, had been charged with six counts of attempted murder and six counts of assault with a deadly weapon. In addition, Kirkwood had been charged with murder in Peco’s death and Jenkins was charged with being an accessory.

They entered their pleas before Judge Elva R. Soper on the day their preliminary hearing was to begin.

Kirkwood faces a maximum sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole and Jenkins could be sentenced to a maximum three-year prison term. They will be sentenced in mid-March.

Kirkwood’s attorney, Manuel R. Martinez Jr., declined to comment on the plea.

Jenkins’ attorney, Justin M. Groshan, earlier contended that a taped interview with police in which his client reportedly confessed to hiding the rifle was coerced. On Monday, Groshan refused to discuss the tape.

He said he was satisfied with the plea agreement considering that Jenkins would face life in prison if convicted on the original charges.

Prosecutor Gravlin said that he accepted the lesser plea from Kirkwood because he was unable to prove that Kirkwood was the man who stood near Peco and fired a gun.