AP source: Fed's gun used in San Francisco pier slaying

[bluedigger]

Source: Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The gun used in the seemingly random slaying of a woman on a San Francisco pier belonged to a federal agent, a law enforcement official briefed on the matter said Tuesday.

The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the case and spoke on condition of anonymity, said a police check of the weapon's serial number shows it belonged to a federal agent. The official declined to elaborate further.

The San Francisco Police Department, which is investigating the case, declined to comment.

The revelation was the latest dramatic twist in a tragic case that has become a new flashpoint in the country's debate over immigration policies.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/senators-feds-deported-sfc-man-killing-155946812--politics.html

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[arcane1]

1. This story keeps getting more and more bizarre

[jtuck004]

2. Huh. Was this a setup for a murder? n/t

[Hoppy]

3. A federal agent's gun? Somethin' somethin, a good man with a gun...

[passiveporcupine]

4. There is a problem here

"For decades, I have supported deporting violent criminals, and I have always believed that sanctuary should not be given to felons," Boxer said.

This guy is being used as a scapegoat for immigration hatred. Boxer even said "violent criminals", but until this happened, he was never a violet criminal. Or is it possible his repeated arrests and containment for non-violent crimes turned him into a violent criminal?

I guess a dead immigrant is a good immigrant in this country.

God this country makes me sick.

[Sunlei]

8. I agree he's a scapegoat for immigration hatred. Bet he wishes he never picked up the teeshirt

bundle, abandoned on the pier.

[brett_jv]

5. "The sheriff said ICE could have obtained a warrant or court order to keep Sanchez in custody"

Yeah, or probably just waited outside the front door of the facility. Surely the ICE people KNEW the man was going to be released, as well as where, and roughly when. If their sense was that the man was dangerous, why weren't they there to arrest him on immigration charges when he was released? My guess is that he'd never done anything particularly egregious in the past. Which doesn't mean he didn't 'do it on purpose', but certainly gives some credence to the notion.

When a US citizen's gun accidentally goes off, killing innocent children or whoever, it seems we're always obliged to feel that 'ZOMG it was an ACCIDENT!!!11!!!' and thus let the person holding the gun at the time (or the gun-owning parent of the child holding the gun at the time) completely off the hook ... but somehow when an 'ILLEGAL' has the same misfortune it's like " OMFG ... what an EVIL MURDERER!!! FRY HIM!!!"

Funny, that ... don't you think?

[Historic NY]

12. In the "real world" SF should have held him

they decided that they would have a city law not to detain immigrants that could be deported. He had been under "states charges" as a felon. SF decided it would not cooperate with Federal Authorities on detainers. He wasn't initially arrested as an undocumented person he was arrested on felony charges.

[KamaAina]

17. Why was he released to SF in the first place?

http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_28449077/pols-urge-immigration-policy-change-immigrant-felon-enters

When he finished a federal prison term in March for illegally entering the United States again, Immigration and Customs Enforcement turned him over to San Francisco police on a warrant from a small marijuana sale 20 years ago; ICE asked to be notified if San Francisco was going to release Sanchez.

Why did they not simply deport him?!

[former9thward]

29. SF had a warrant out for him.

Which means they wanted to prosecute him. Then when they got him they decided to release him without prosecution.

[KamaAina]

30. On a 20-year-old pot charge? In SF?!

FSM knows SF city attorney Dennis Herrera isn't the best lawyer in the world, but that would be off the hook even for him!

Along with the discovery that the gun had been stolen from a Federal agent, this makes a stench rise from Pier 14 that cannot be explained by one of the nearby seafood restaurants' freezers going out.

[Psephos]

6. More proof why only LEOs should be trusted with guns.

umm, nevermind

[Sunlei]

7. the man said he picked up a teeshirt bundled with the gun inside.

[SunSeeker]

9. Holy crap. That whole "I found the gun wrapped in a t-shirt" thing might actually be true.

[LisaL]

10. Weapon was stolen.

"The gun used to kill a 32-year-old woman on San Francisco’s waterfront was stolen from a federal agent in a car burglary in June, sources close to the investigation said Tuesday."

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Gun-used-in-pier-killing-had-been-stolen-from-6371602.php

[SunSeeker]

23. Yes, but they don't know who stole it or how the killer got it.

Either way, sounds like the family has a wrongful death/negligence lawsuit against BLM.

[OnlinePoker]

19. The gun was stolen from the BLM officer's car 4 days before the killing.

I highly doubt someone just left it on the Embarcadero untouched that whole time.

[SunSeeker]

20. Yes, you're the second person to point that out to me.

But all we know is it was stolen from the idiot BLM agent's car, not who stole it or how this transient actually found it.

[avaistheone1]

33. I hope they search the FBI agent's vehicle for DNA, hair etc to see what linkages can be made to who

is responsible for stealing the gun.

[Darb]

11. I smell a rat.

Any time a "perfect for Repuke exploitation" event occurs, I suspect bad actors.

The same way I felt during "Fast and Furious", Benghazi, the IRS tripe, that Texas Mohammad cartoon tomfoolery, etc. etc.

[Historic NY]

13. The mud is on San Francisco's face...

<San Francisco officials on Tuesday moved to curb their partnership with U.S. immigration authorities, by ending a practice that facilitates deportations by extending the detention of illegal immigrants arrested for crimes.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors action, which would exclude certain violent offenders, represents the latest pushback by state and local officials in California against the federal government over immigration enforcement.

The board voted unanimously to pass an ordinance to prevent the San Francisco police and sheriff's departments from detaining illegal immigrants arrested for crimes for up to 48 hours past their release dates. The extra time helps immigration agents take custody of detainees for possible deportation.

The federal government in 2008 launched the so-called Secure Communities partnership between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and local law enforcement to facilitate the deportation of illegal immigrants arrested for crimes.>

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/02/us-usa-immigration-sanfrancisco-idUSBRE99102Y20131002

[candelista]

15. Not just San Fran.

31 American cities have similar laws, including Washington, D.C.; New York City; Jersey City; Los Angeles; Philadelphia, San Francisco; Santa Ana; San Diego; San Jose; Oakland; Salt Lake City; El Paso; Houston; Detroit; Chicago; Salinas, California; Minneapolis; Miami; Denver; Baltimore; Seattle; Portland, Oregon; New Haven; Somerville; Cambridge; Portland, Maine; and Tulsa.[3] These cities have adopted "sanctuary" ordinances banning city employees and police officers from asking people about their immigration status.

These laws need to be overturned.

[Recursion]

21. Law Enforcement demands those laws

They're tired of the wedge immigration enforcement puts between them and the people they work with.

[candelista]

25. If the cops helped to enforce federal law, many of the people you mean would be deported.

So the cops wouldn't have to deal with them.

Besides, local law enforcement has a duty to provide information pursuant to the enforcement of federal law.

"Being tired of it" or wanting to have "good working relations" with people is not an excuse.

Right?

[Recursion]

26. But their aggrieved family and friends would still be here

And people would be even more hesitant to talk to police to begin with.

Besides, local law enforcement has a duty to provide information pursuant to the enforcement of federal law.

Should cops in Colorado help the DEA bust pot smokers?

[candelista]

35. "Aggrieved family & friends hesitant to talk to cops"?

(1)Let me get this straight: according to you we should let people break our laws by living here illegally so that they can feel comfortable talking to police officers? Do you see the logical jumble?

(2) If the feds want to know who is breaking federal law by committing a federal felony of any kind in Colorado, including a felony involving marijuana, then yes, the Colorado cops have a duty to tell them. Otherwise the cops are guilty of misprision.

Disclaimer: Federal laws against marijuana production should be repealed.

[Gormy Cuss]

27. No, these laws don't need to be overturned.

It's the job of ICE to determine immigration status, not local LEOs. Transferring that responsibility to local law enforcement is mission creep.
Raging xenophobia over this incident isn't going to prevent future violent crime.

[Historic NY]

28. I'm pretty sure the victims family wouldn't agree.....

<The suspected gunman, Juan Francisco Lopez Sanchez, has been deported to his native Mexico five times and is suspected of living in the United States illegally when Kathryn Steinle, 32, was gunned down last week while on an evening stroll with her father along San Francisco's popular waterfront area.

Federal officials transferred Sanchez to San Francisco's jail in March to face a 20-year-old marijuana charge after Sanchez completed his latest prison term for illegally entering the country.

The San Francisco sheriff, citing the city's "sanctuary city" policy, released Sanchez in April after prosecutors dropped the drug charge, despite an Immigration and Customs Enforcement request to hold him for federal authorities so deportation proceedings could begin.>



Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, the 45-year-old illegal alien who confessed to fatally shooting 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle in San Francisco last week, used more than 30 aliases throughout his life of crime, government sources tell The Daily Caller.

Lopez-Sanchez’s record, which stretches back nearly 25 years, shows three lengthy federal prison sentences for felony illegal re-entry. It also shows that on many occasions, Lopez-Sanchez was deported back to Mexico only to illegally re-enter the U.S. within days.

**see his entire criminal history....

http://dailycaller.com/2015/07/08/francisco-sanchez-kate-steinles-killer-used-30-aliases-over-the-course-of-a-25-year-life-of-crime/

[Gormy Cuss]

31. So the victim's family must also be for disarming BLM rangers

since it was one of their guns used in this event.

And if the worst offense they had against him before this month was "felony illegal re-entry," last I checked that's not a violent crime.
Face it, if Lopez-Sanchez were a legal U.S. resident living on the margins with a criminal record of only nonviolent offenses this woman would be just as dead.

Xenophobia. It's what's for breakfast.

[Historic NY]

32. Stolen from a vehicle...

where it probably shouldn't have been left.

April 15, 2015: The San Francisco sheriff’s department releases Lopez-Sanchez from its custody without notifying ICE.

[avaistheone1]

34. Sounds like Local Enforcement Officers in San Francisco did not do their job.

US immigration officials had requested he remain detained, but sheriff's deputies decided to free him without informing the authorities.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/san-francisco-pier-killer-francisco-sanchez-admits-shooting-kathryn-steinle-dead-freak-150955

[Gormy Cuss]

38. It's more nuanced than that.

More details are being divulged daily. The sheriff's department made several errors, the first of which was taking custody of Lopez-Sanchez based on a warrant that the D.A. would not pursue in court.

[candelista]

36. Your argument leaks like a sieve.

If the job of ICE is to determine immigration status, then ICE can't do its job if the local cops hide information from them about the status of criminals in local jails.

[Gormy Cuss]

37. ICE is a Federal agency with independent law enforcement charges

They are not dependent on county sheriffs to keep track of persons under their purview. ICE handed this person over to the SF county sheriff (not exactly "the local cops" who are the SFPD) in March. ICE knew precisely where he went.

The sheriff's department failed on several levels but to claim that they actively hid information from ICE is not supported by any of the information released to date.

[Comrade Grumpy]

24. It is Congress that has refused to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

And Obama has deported a quarter million aliens for trivial offenses, including 35,000 for pot possession. Sanctuary cities are tired of seeing their communities ripped apart by thoughtless, mindless immigration policies.

[candelista]

14. What are you saying?

How is this like "Fast and Furious" etc.?

[Darb]

22. Just seems too perfect.

This guy shot some stranger in the back with a stolen gun for what? Why did he shoot her? I have no idea how it played out but it all sounds like a set up. Jussayin'. I guess it could have happened that way, but what is the motive? Too perfect for the Pukes narrative.

As for Fast and Furious, of all the guns that are illegally transported across the border, literally hundreds of thousands, maybe more, and one that was allowed to "walk" across the border just happens to be left, that's right, left at the scene of the murder of an immigration officer? Really? What are the fucking odds of the murderers of an immigration cop leaving a gun behind at all, much less one of those particular guns that was allowed to walk. Just too farkin perfect for the Repuke narrative. You know what I mean?

Same with Benghazi, too perfect, right before an election. And Romney was the first out of the box that morning to start the shit. That one stinks too.

[dogknob]

16. SF's beaches are Federal jurisdiction. Park Ranger's gun? n/t

[KamaAina]

18. This is across town

on the Bay, not the Pacific.

[dogknob]

39. I was thinking of where the gun might have come from, not where the shooting took place. n/t

[KamaAina]

40. Turns out the gun belonged to a BLM agent.

He must have been at Region IX HQ in SF.