VISTA - A second Oceanside teen, alleged by authorities to be a gang member, pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges Tuesday in connection with the fatal shooting of Oceanside police Officer Dan Bessant, who was killed on the city's northeast side last month.

Prosecutor Tom Manning said that the government has evidence that Penifoti "P.J." Taeotui, 16, a member of a predominantly Samoan gang, shot at Bessant as Taeotui stood alongside a fellow gang member who is also charged as being a triggerman in Bessant's slaying.

Taeotui "is an admitted gang member," Manning told Judge Adrienne Orfield during Taeotui's short arraignment, "and the evidence also shows he was also firing a handgun at a police officer."

Bessant was gunned down in a surprise attack just after 6:30 p.m. Dec. 20, shortly after he arrived to offer backup to a fellow police officer during a routine traffic stop in an Oceanside neighborhood with a history of gang violence.

Manning said Bessant was hit by a single bullet.

Taeotui, who faces charges as an adult, stayed stony-faced throughout his short hearing in a Vista courtroom. At the end of the hearing, the youth turned and looked toward his supporters in the crowded courtroom before he was led away. At least two of his supporters declined comment to a reporter after the hearing.

Taeotui was moved Tuesday from Juvenile Hall to a San Diego County jail. His bail is $5 million.

Taeotui is one of two teenagers arrested thus far in connection with the fatal shooting. A third teen is jailed on an unrelated charge.

One of the teens, 17-year-old Meki Gaono Jr., was arrested within hours of Bessant's death, and pleaded not guilty two weeks ago to murder and other charges. The prosecution has accused Gaono of using a rifle with a telescopic sight while shooting at the officers from more than 100 yards away during the incident.

Authorities said Gaono, who is also being charged as an adult, is an admitted gang member.

The cases against the two teens are now linked as one case.

Another teen - a 16-year-old arrested the day after the shooting - has not been charged in connection with Bessant's slaying. He remains in Juvenile Hall on a probation violation, Manning said Tuesday. Asked whether that teen or any others also would be charged in Bessant's slaying, Manning said the case remains under investigation.

Taeotui was arrested more than two weeks after Bessant's shooting. Officers took Taeotui into custody Thursday at the boy's Oceanside home.

In the days before his slaying, Bessant ticketed one of the teenagers for a minor infraction.

According to Oceanside police Chief Frank McCoy, Bessant issued a citation to one of the three teens a few days before the fatal shooting. McCoy, reached on his cell phone out of the office late Tuesday, could not recall the exact date and circumstances that led to a ticket for one of the teens, or which of the three teens had received the ticket, but McCoy thought it might have been tobacco-related.

Little information was available Tuesday about Taeotui, whose name was kept under wraps until he was charged as an adult during the afternoon hearing.

According to Oceanside schools spokeswoman Laura Chalkley, a student with the same last name and date of birth as Taeotui transferred from Vista High School to Oceanside High School in April. That student, who is listed under the first name C.J. with a middle initial P. and a last name of Taeotui, finished out the school year at Oceanside High, she said. That student then enrolled at Ocean Shores High School the following academic term. Ocean Shores is a continuation school for students with attendance issues or other problems with traditional high school.

Taeotui's co-defendant, Gaono, also once attended Ocean Shores, but last year enrolled at Clair Burgener School in Oceanside, where Bessant's father, Steve Bessant, is the principal.

The elder Bessant, who was on hand for Taeotui's arraignment, said outside of court Tuesday that he knew Gaono from school.

Gaono was also in court Tuesday for a routine and brief hearing, at which he agreed to postpone a major pretrial proceeding, known as a preliminary hearing, until March 28.

At that hearing, the prosecution will lay out the basics of the case against Gaono and Taeotui, and a judge will determine whether there is enough evidence to send either or both to trial.

The 25-year-old Bessant was an Oceanside native who joined the police force in 2003. He was married and the father of a 2-month-old son at the time of the shooting.

- Staff writer David Sterrett contributed to this report. Contact staff writer Teri Figueroa at (760) 631-6624 or tfigueroa@nctimes.com. Comment at nctimes.com.