Judge Teri Jackson decided there was sufficient evidence for Ramos, 22, of El Sobrante, to be tried on three counts of murder for the shooting deaths of Tony Bologna, 48, and his sons Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16, in the city's Excelsior District.

Jackson also held Ramos to answer for the attempted murder of a third son present that day, who survived and testified during the hearing that Ramos was the shooter.

Police and prosecutors have said the victims may have been mistaken for rival gang members, after the shooting of another alleged MS-13 gang member earlier that day in the nearby Mission District.

The family was driving home from a Sunday picnic in Fairfield, when they encountered a Chrysler 300 at a stop sign in the 200 block of Congdon Street.

The son testified that the Chrysler at first blocked their path, then pulled up alongside the family's car as Ramos glared at his father. Then shots rang out as the son ducked for cover in the back seat, he said.

Ramos reportedly told police after his arrest three days later that he drove the car used in the shooting, but that a passenger, Wilfredo Reyes, or "Flaco" -- who prosecutors have alleged is an MS-13 shot caller -- fired the gun. Police searched for Reyes after interviewing Ramos but never found him.

Jackson said Monday that the son's testimony "puts the defendant not only as an active participant, but carrying out the act as well."

Tony Bologna's wife Danielle, who was present throughout the 10-day preliminary hearing in the case, wept both during and after Monday's decision, finally whispering repeatedly, "Thank you God."

Prosecutor Harry Dorfman said in his closing statement at Monday's hearing that the surviving Bologna son testified "very clearly" about the incident and "definitively" identified Ramos.

"Mr. Bologna described the defendant as the driver, and as the gunman," Dorfman said.

He said testimony showed the murders were clearly a case of "gang retaliation" against "perceived rivals, perceived Nortenos."

"I don't know if they're trying to get the real shooter here, or if they're just trying to bury poor Mr. Ramos," responded Ramos' attorney Marla Zamora.

Zamora argued that after Ramos denied being the shooter and identified Reyes as the man responsible, police made "little or no effort" to find Reyes.

"With all this time, they're allowing the person responsible for these three homicides to get away," she said.

Police have denied there was any delay in going after Reyes.

Zamora also claimed the evidence that Ramos was an active gang member at the time was "highly questionable."

"I kinda are, but I ain't. You know what I mean? Kinda like more to the side now," police gang investigator Sgt. Mario Molina, during earlier testimony, quoted Ramos as saying to him after his arrest.

Molina said Ramos admitted to him in 2005, when Ramos was 19 years old, that he had been a member of MS-13 for the previous seven years.

Zamora suggested Monday that police and prosecutors were "dirtying up" her client because "they got the wrong individual." They needed to prove his active membership in a gang in order to possibly convict under a theory he aided and abetted the murders, she claimed.

"I don't believe the prosecution has decided which way they want to go at this time," Zamora said.

Jackson said many of the arguments Monday were beyond the scope of a preliminary hearing.

She summarized much of the evidence presented at the hearing, which included testimony by a gang expert about the activities of MS-13 in San Francisco, Ramos' statement to police about Reyes referring to the victims as "chapos," a derogatory term for Nortenos, before the shootings, and his statement that he knew of the earlier Mission District shooting that day.

Testimony also included evidence of what Jackson called a "telephone frenzy" between the Mission District shooting victim, Reyes and Ramos, before the murders three hours later.

Additionally, Jackson took into account documentation of Ramos' arrests as a juvenile for gang-related incidents, his own admission of earlier gang membership, and his conduct after the murders, which included shaving his head and his mustache, she said.

"So for purposes of a preliminary hearing, the court is satisfied," Jackson said.

Ramos, who remains in custody without bail, will be arraigned in Superior Court July 13 on three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, plus gang and firearms allegations, and two special-circumstance allegations for multiple murders and a murder committed in furtherance of participation in a criminal street gang.

A trial date has not yet been set.