Mission District

RECENT POSTS

September 29, 2011 | 10:38 AM | By

SFPD arrest juvenile in murder of Hogs & Rocks cook

San Francisco Police Department

San Francisco Police announced today they are charging a juvenile suspect with the murder of Gaspar Poch-Tzek, a 22-year-old line cook at Mission District restaurant Hogs & Rocks. Poch-Tzek was shot on the evening of August 30th while taking a cigarette break on 19th Street and San Carlos. According to Mission Station Captain Greg Corrales, Poch-Tzek’s assailants were Nortenos who demanded whether the cook was a member of the Sureno gang.

Poch-Tzek was shot and killed even thoguh he denied any affiliation. SFPD Lieutenant Troy Dangerfield said police have no indication the cook had gang ties, “He was just a worker,” Dangerfield said.

The 15-year-old suspect, whose identity is being withheld because he is a minor, was already being held at the Juvenile Justice Center for an unrelated charge when SFPD arrested him for Poch-Tzek’s killing. Lieutenant Dangerfield said the arrest was the result of significant community cooperation with Homicide and Gang Task Force inspectors. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Police, Gaspar Poch-Tzek, Mission District, murder, San Francisco, San Francisco Police Department
August 31, 2011 | 11:06 AM | By

Edson Lacayo, 29, murdered on Hampshire Street in the Mission

Craftside

San Francisco and Oakland are experiencing a violent summer

A 29-year-old man was shot to death shortly before 11:30 PM last night on the 800 block of Hampshire Street. The San Francisco Medical Examiner’s office identified the dead man as Edson Lacayo, a San Francisco resident.

According to the San Francisco Police Department, officers responding to reports of shots fired around 11:29 PM last night found Lacayo lying on the street with three gunshot wounds. Emergency medical personnel pronounced Lacayo dead at the scene.

Police are unsure whether the shooting is related to the murder of 22-year-old Gaspar Putch-Tzek, a cook who was killed on 19th and San Carlos Streets early Tuesday morning after being mistaken for a gang member.

Officer Carlos Manfredi, an SFPD spokesperson, said residents reported seeing two suspects running away from the scene in an unknown direction. No identifying information was provided for either suspects. Officer Manfredi said the death is being investigated by Homicide inspectors, but SFPD has not yet determined whether the shooting is gang related.

Lacayo’s murder is San Francisco’s 34th homicide of 2011, compared to 32 killings as of August 27th last year.

FILED UNDER: Police, Mission District, murder, San Francisco, San Francisco Police Department
August 26, 2011 | 11:44 AM | By

Murder in Bernal Heights, non-fatal shooting in the Mission Thursday PM

An 18-year old man was shot to death in a drive-by shooting on Alemany Boulevard in Bernal Heights shortly after noon on Thursday, and a 48-year-old man was wounded by gunfire on Mission and 18th Street later that evening. Kevin Hall, an 18-year-old San Francisco resident, was identified as the slain man by the Medical Examiner’s office this morning.

Hall’s killing is San Francisco’s 32nd murder of 2011.

According to San Francisco Police, Hall and another man were driving in a faded red Buick East on Alemany Boulevard around 12:30 PM. While stopped at the intersection of Alemany and Putnam Street, a silver, 2-door sedan pulled up alongside them. The passenger in the sedan, a black man wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt got out, walked up to the passenger window of the Buick and fired at Hall. Though his companion drove him to San Francisco General Hospital, Hall died from gunshot wounds.

Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Police, Bernal Heights, Kevin Hall, Mission District, murder, San Francisco, San Francisco Police Department
May 13, 2011 | 2:15 PM | By

SFPD make arrest in 1995 Mission double homicide

lawreports.co.uk

In 1995, San Francisco was a very different city. The City was in the midst of a transition from its former shipping-based economy to one founded on real estate, finance and the still-nascent dot-com boom. Like countless other cities, San Francisco was in the throes of the crack boom, which contributed to the 99 murders and 10,903 violent crimes that took place in 1995.

Two of those 99 homicides took place on December 20, 1995, when Vincent Betancourt and Ruben Solis were gunned down in in Garfield Park around 2:50 AM. On May 6th, Douglas Cabrera turned himself in to SFPD and claimed responsibility for both killings. Officer Albie Esparza of SFPD’s Media Relations office said Cabrera has been a suspect in the case since 1995. He is currently in custody at the San Francisco County Jail and faces two charges of murder.

We will update this story as more information becomes available.

FILED UNDER: Police, Mission District, murder, San Francisco, San Francisco Police Department
April 5, 2011 | 5:32 PM | By

US Attorney from NorCal targets San Francisco gang with ties to Mexican cartels

Tom Diaz

A San Francisco street gang is the focus of a high-profile gang trial that began this week–and prosecutors say the gang’s involved with transational narcotics smuggling. The gang, Mara Salvatrucha, is said to be in cooperation with some of the Mexican drug cartels that have established control over the illicit drug markets in the United States.

According to a 2007 Congressional Research Service report, Mara Salvatrucha (or MS-13), with origins in the Salvadorian communities in Los Angeles, is one of the larger United States gangs supplied with narcotics from the five dominant cartels in Mexico.

The indictment against seven alleged members of the 20th Street clique of MS-13 SAYS MS-13 has 10,000 members across the United States and throughout Central America.

A National Drug Intelligence Center briefing on Northern California drug markets also identified Mexican cartels as the “principal illicit drug producers, transporters, and wholesale distributors in the area,” and says they have their hands in the distribution of cocaine, heroin and marijuana, as well as the production of heroin, marijuana and methamphetamine in and outside the United States.

Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Courts, 20th Street, Gangs, Mara Salvatrucha, Mission District, MS-13, San Francisco, United States Attorney for Northern California
March 15, 2011 | 1:15 PM | By

SF Weekly questions effectiveness of gang injunctions

San Francisco City Attorney

Gang shootings are up in and around the area covered by a gang injunction in San Francisco's Mission District.

In light of the spate of Norteno-Sureno violence that has engulfed the Mission District over the past few weeks, SF Weekly is raising questions about San Francisco’s gang injunction strategy. There are four such court orders in place across the city. The injunction in the Mission targets 18 alleged members of the Norteno street gang and covers an area stretching from 21nd street down to Cesar Chavez, and from Valenica Street over to San Bruno Avenue to the East.

The Weekly found that at least one person targeted in the recent Norteno-Sureno shootings was on the Mission injunction list, according to Lieutenant Jim Miller, who runs SFPD’s Gang Task Force. Here’s the critical intro to the piece:

Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Police, Gang Injunctions, Mission District, Nortenos, San Francisco, San Francisco Police Department, SF Weekly
February 9, 2011 | 11:07 AM | By

Captain Greg Corrales: Officer, poet

SFPD

Captain Greg Corrales

Usually, police reports are filled with cryptic jargon, pretty much unintelligible to the average civilian. But not the Mission Police District Newsletter. In fact, the blotter reads more like a 1920′s crime novel than paperwork–methamphetamine becomes a “pernicious poison,” a purse thief a “shiftless scoundrel,” and an accused prostitute a “soiled dove.”

There’s the report of a fugitive from justice apprehended at 3:57pm from 18th and Sanchez:

Officers Cruz & Lattig spotted a suspicious subject slumbering on the sidewalk. Investigating further, the officers discovered that the subject was a fugitive from justice, with two active warrants out for his arrest. Intent on sending a message that the Mission District is not a haven for fugitives, the officers quickly arrested the fugitive.

Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Police, Captain Greg Corrales, Mission District, San Francisco Police Department
January 20, 2011 | 5:18 PM | By

San Francisco’s gang injunctions, four years on

Norteño gang graffiti. Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/metalcowboy/2761077635/#/

Four years ago, San Francisco faced a stubbornly high crime rate. To fight back, City Attorney Dennis Herrera and the police department turned to a controversial crime strategy – the gang injunction. It’s a public nuisance lawsuit filed in civil court that restricts the movements and actions of individuals accused of membership in a street gang. Violators are charged with a misdemeanor and face fines or up to six months in jail.

San Francisco’s first injunction was implemented in the Bayview in 2006, against 25 alleged members of the “Oakdale Mob” street gang.

Over the next three years, further injunctions were obtained against groups in the Western Addition,the Mission District and most recently, Visitacion Valley. The City Attorney and SFPD claim the injunctions have contributed to reductions in crime, but some residents say they result in police harassment of black and latino youth and pave the way for gentrification.

KALW’s Ali Winston reports.

Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Police, Bayview-Hunter's Point, Gang Injunctions, Mission District, San Francisco, San Francisco Police Department, Visitacion Valley, Western Addition