San Francisco

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September 29, 2011 | 4:19 PM | By

SFPD arrest 2 in Sept. 17 Sunset murder, including suspect trying to flee country

Craftside

San Francisco and Oakland are experiencing a violent summer

San Francisco police arrested two men in connection with the September 17th murder of Edgar Yegiyan, a 22-year-old Sunset District resident who was shot to death on 35th Avenue and Rivera.

According to police Yegiyan was smoking a cigarette outside a friend’s house when he was approached by two suspects on foot around 1:17 AM. The men shot Yegiyan multiple times in the torso with an assault rifle, then took off running. Yegiyan died at the scene

Konstantin Solodukhin, 22, was arrested by SFPD Airport Bureau officers around 2:44 PM mere hours before he was scheduled to leave the country on a one-way flight. Sgt. Mike Andraychak said inspectors were not ready to disclose Solodukhin’s destination. Solodukhin’s alleged accomplice, Oren Zakhrabov, also 22 years old, was arrested near his residence in the South of Market neighborhood.

Prosecutors have yet to announce charges against Solodukhin and Zakhrabov.

FILED UNDER: Police, arrest, murder, San Francisco, San Francisco Police Department, Sunset District
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
September 19, 2011 | 6:03 PM | By

13 CA cities call for help tackling gang violence

Ali Winston

Clockwise: Santa Rosa Mayor Ernesto Olivares, Oxnard Mayor Thomas Holden, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, Salinas Mayor Dennis Donohue and Oakland Mayor Jean Quan at a gang prevention conference on Sept. 19, 2011.

Looking out across the San Francisco Bay from the top of the Downtown Oakland Marriott, dozens of California law enforcement officers and public officials kicked off a two-day conference on gang prevention strategies during an era of shrinking budgets and police departments.

The adage “do more with less” was invoked time and time again, particularly by Attorney General Kamala Harris in her keynote address. A combination of budget cuts to the state Department of Justice, as well as realignment – or the shifting responsibility for thousands of offenders to county jails and probation departments – mean that cities across the state will experience a significant influx of probationers and parolees into their streets and jails, taxing police, corrections and social services. The state, Harris said is “on the verge of bankruptcy” and is not in a position to provide sufficient fiscal or institutional support for countries.

Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Courts, California Department of Justice, Gangs, Kamala, Mayor Ed Lee, Mayor Jean Quan, Oakland, San Francisco
September 16, 2011 | 3:40 PM | By

AG’s investigation restricts questioning of SFPD officers who shot wheelchair-bound man

The case of Randall Dunklin, the 55-year-old man who was shot and wounded in the South of Market neighborhood by San Francisco Police officers after allegedly stabbing an officer who pepper-sprayed him, caused a mini-uproar this winter after video of the incident was posted on the Internet. Dunklin’s shooting came hard on the heels of another officer-involved shooting by SFPD officers in the Portola district, when 46-year-old Vinh Bui was killed after refusing commands to drop a knife.

Both Dunklin, Bui and two other people shot by SFPD officers in 2010 had histories of mental illness, prompting SFPD and the Police Commission to overhaul the department’s training for dealing with mentally ill people.

However, Dunklin’s court proceedings for charges of assaulting an officer and vandalism (SFPD contacted him on January 4th because he was allegedly slashing tires near 10th and Howard Street) is highlighting the effect on San Francisco’s legal system of former Mayor Gavin Newsom’s decision to appoint SFPD Chief George Gascón as District Attorney on January 9, five days after Dunklin was shot.

The subsequent investigation of that shooting is being handled by California Attorney General Kamala Harris to avoid conflicts of interest. However, because the Attorney General has not concluded their investigation, on Wednesday morning San Francisco Superior Court Judge Carol Yaggy made the unusual decision of refusing to allow Dunklin’s attorney to question two SFPD officers about statements they made to investigators after the shooting. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Courts, Noah Mallinger, Randall Dunklin, San Francisco, San Francisco District Attorney, San Francisco Police Department, Terrence Saw
September 8, 2011 | 5:00 PM | By

Jostling continues on SFPD participation in JTTF

The debate over the San Francisco Police Department’s participation in the regional Joint Terrorism Task Force has slogged on for months after the American Civil Liberties Union revealed the agreement governing SFPD’s involvement in the anti-terror program disregarded long-standing LOCAL restrictions on police intelligence gathering and surveillance.

At a joint Human Rights/Police Commission meeting in May, dozens of local Muslims and civil libertarians called on the Police Commission to pull out of the controversial memorandum of understanding between the city and the FBI. The MOU was approved in March 2007 by then-Police Chief Heather Fong without the knowledge of the Police Commission, which is responsible for such policy decisions.

The ACLU and the Asian Law Caucus have urged San Francisco to follow the lead of Portland, Oregon, which pulled its police department out of the regional JTTF over concerns about over-broad homeland security investigations. In May, Portland entered into an agreement with the FBI and the U.S. Attorney for Oregon to allow local police to participate in the JTTF on an “as-needed” basis.

SFPD Commander Michael Biel, who is in charge of the Investigations division, contacted the Portland City Attorney and the FBI’s Portland office to learn more about the state of affairs with Portland’s new joint resolution. At last night’s Police Commission hearing, Biel reported that under the new agreement, Portland Police officers did not have top-secret clearance nor access to regional, national or international intelligence received by the JTTF. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Politics, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Joint Terrorism Task Force, Portland, San Francisco, San Francisco Police Commission, 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 30, 2011 | 4:43 PM | By

Justice Department, Homeland Security personnel at #OpBART protests

Geoff King

Officers from a Department of Homeland Security Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response unit in the Civic Center BART station on August 29, 2011.

Amongst the dozens of riot gear-clad San Francisco and BART police officers that have packed Downtown San Francisco streets during the OpBART protests for the past three Mondays, you may have spotted some officers wearing khaki slacks and bulletproof vests, a far cry from the heavy duty helmets and body armor worn by officers from other agencies.

Those lightly-clad officers were part of a Department of Homeland Security Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR) unit, an anti-terror unit charged with protecting transportation infrastructure from potential acts of terrorism. VIPR units are run by the Transportation Security Administration. According to the TSA’s website, VIPR teams are terrorism deterrents that “a random, announced, high-visibility surge into a transit agency, in addition to enhancing agency resources during special events.” VIPR teams have been deployed more than 50 times since the program began in 2005, and regularly patrol New York’s Metro North and Long Island Railroad commuter systems. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Police, #OpBART, Anonymous, San Francisco, Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Department of Justice, VIPR
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