A group of St. Paul gang members has initiated several assaults in downtown since January, sometimes targeting people with no gang ties, according to recent criminal charges.

In one incident, the seven men allegedly attacked a group of friends who were “play fighting” in the skyway system. In another, they allegedly assaulted a man who tried to intervene in their assault of another man at a nearby light-rail station. And in the most recent incident, they allegedly attacked a rival gang member.

The incidents — and later arrests — came amid perceptions of increased crime in downtown St. Paul and highlight concerns some have about downtown safety, though police stress the area is safe. Police beefed up the visibility of officers downtown after the skyway assault, saying they were responding to “isolated problems” downtown. The increased police presence continues, a police spokesman said Monday.

The Ramsey County attorney’s office charged seven members of the “Gutter Block Goons” gang with felony counts of crimes committed for the benefit of a gang.

They are: Michael James Jackson, 28; Jesse Jamoni Moore, 22; Rodney Lloyd Johnson, 21; Devon Walter Lee Johnson, 20; Keanu Antwain Brown, 19; Donald Maurice McCormick, 19; and Ramon Devon Tobert, 19.

In a Jan. 19 incident, the group happened upon three male friends in the skyway in the Town Square building about 6 p.m. Two of the men, ages 22 and 24, were “play fighting,” according to criminal complaints filed Friday in Ramsey County District Court.

The seven suspects approached the men and asked the 24-year-old if he wanted them to beat up the 22-year-old, who had jumped on the back of his friend. The 24-year-old declined and explained they were friends and were just joking. One victim noticed that a member of the group, which had surrounded them, appeared to be videotaping the confrontation on a cellphone and asked him to stop. That’s when the suspects threw punches, a criminal complaint said.

The third victim, a 57-year-old man known as “Grandpa Dave,” was hit in the head and knocked to the ground. He suffered a broken arm when someone stomped on it, the complaint said. The 24-year-old man, Thomas Klein, fell to the floor after he was punched and knocked unconscious. He was kicked in the head and suffered a bloodied face. The 22-year-old man escaped but heard the older man calling for help after the attack, he told police.

The victims said their attackers were each wearing red and black, so they assumed they had gang affiliations. One group member — a man with tattoos on his face, under his eyes — seemed to be giving signals, the victims recalled.

Moments later, police were called to the nearby Green Line light-rail station at Fifth and Cedar streets on a report of a large fight.

A 23-year-old man, identified in a criminal complaint as KP, said he saw a group of males beating up another man and he walked toward them. As KP approached, one of the attackers confronted him and the group then assaulted him, the complaint said.

St. Paul police gang investigators reviewed surveillance footage from the skyway and the train platform and identified the same seven men involved in both assaults, according to the complaint.

On March 18, some of the same suspects were again implicated in a downtown St. Paul assault. Police got a report of people fighting and darting in and out of traffic just after 5 p.m. at Fifth and Jackson streets, according to another criminal complaint filed Friday.

According to witnesses, a man named Casey Davis — who police say is a known member of the “Ham Crazy” gang — was assaulted by Brown, McCormick, Rodney Johnson and a 17-year-old girl named Jamiah La’Kea Wilkerson. A bystander called 911 and tried to intervene, fearing Davis’ life was in danger, but he was told to mind his own business and had his cellphone knocked from his hands, the complaint said.

When officers arrived, they saw the three men and the girl walking away from Davis, then saw Davis pick up an object and throw it at Brown, who fell to the ground with blood coming from his head.

The fight was the result of a gang rivalry, the complaint said.

Davis, Brown, McCormick, Johnson and Wilkerson were all charged.

Elizabeth Mohr can be reached at 651-228-5162. Follow her at twitter.com/LizMohr.