There were 7 guns taken off the street from the few episodes cited in this column this month. There were a lot more recovered but we just didn’t have time to report all of them. Many of the guns recovered were done so by one-officer units. With the anticipation of losing over 300 officers within the next 2 years, officer-safety will become paramount. We can only hope that the Department will be given the green light very soon to move on future academy classes.
It was just in the beginning of January this year that an individual was reported walking down the street at LaPlaya and Balboa in the Richmond District at 10 in the morning with a cup of coffee in one hand and a gun in the other. Officer Robert Wong and Officer Patrick Brady responded and were fortunate enough to locate the suspect and quickly disarmed him of his .45 caliber firearm which was fully-charged with one round in the chamber and the safety off . . . Now it’s February 18, 2012, at 9:45 a.m. in the Richmond District when another call of a man armed with a gun is reported at a laundromat on the 4100 block of California. This suspect is described as being 6’3” and over 220 lbs, armed with a “silver handgun with several syringes protruding from his jacket pockets.” Officer Robert Wong, Officer Manuel Solano, Officer Eddie Wu, Officer Ron Ophir, and Lieutenant Frank Lee all respond. They find the suspect inside the building and immediately take him into custody relieving him of his fully-loaded, .357 magnum revolver.
Two separate cases of armed suspects in just 2 months in the Richmond . . .
A domestic violence call was received by Officer Dian Khu, Officer Jose Guardado, Officer Greg Pak, and Officer Duane Elzey, members of the Taraval Neighborhood Team (TNT). The officers responded to the address in question while having prior info on the suspect because of numerous contacts with him in the past. The officers saw the suspect leaving in his car and conducted a traffic stop. Officer Khu approached him and located a loaded, Kel-Tec, semi-automatic weapon in the suspect’s jacket pocket that was loaded with the safety off. The suspect was taken into custody as was the loaded weapon that had been reported stolen out of Nevada.
The armed robbery took place at 5th and Market Streets in the early afternoon and Officer Barry Mlaker, Officer Adam Eatia, Officer Paul Ruetti, Officer Christian Bowman, and Sergeant Mark Shea responded to the area. Officer Mlaker spotted the suspects and one of them took off running. Officer Mlaker, with the assistance of Officer Bowman, tackled the suspect and recovered a loaded, semi-automatic weapon he had concealed on his person. The other officers captured the remaining suspects and all of the property taken during the robbery was recovered.
The man was stabbed at 6th and Stevenson Streets and expired before medical help could arrive. Officer David Goff and Officer Adam Platinga worked diligently throughout the neighborhood attempting to develop whatever leads they could. They finally located a witness who could identify the suspect and brought him to Inspector Dan Dedet, Homicide Detail. The suspect responsible for the murder was picked up in another jurisdiction within days.
The driver of the vehicle had a suspended license so his car was being towed by Officer Donn Peterson and Officer Michael Bushnell. It was during the inventory search that the driver appeared to become more nervous than usual and, suddenly, took off running. His brief departure only lasted 3 blocks before he was brought back to the scene. The driver apparently ran because he didn’t want to have to explain the huge quantity of cocaine he was carrying in his trunk along with the thousands of dollars which were probably not earned by a conventional job.
Officer Rupert Geraldo, Officer Michael O’Donnell, and Officer Keith Murphy were faced with a hostage situation on the 2200 block of Van Ness Avenue. One of the victims managed to escape and told the officers that a man with a gun was holding other women against their will in the residence. A brief stand-off passed and the officers were able to free the other 2 victims and located the suspect hiding in a closet with a loaded, .38 caliber handgun. The gun was the least of the suspect’s worries, the large quantity of drugs and cash were another matter . . .
Officer Shawn Phillips was contacted by a Daly City Police Department Inspector with information about a wanted shooting suspect. Officer Phillips had personal knowledge of this individual having worked in the Ingleside District for some time. Officer Phillips knew that the person wanted had a serious and violent criminal history with multiple prior arrests for firearm violations. Shawn soon located the suspect driving in the district and, with the assistance of other Ingleside units, stopped and arrested this individual who, as suspected, was carrying a fully-loaded, semi-automatic weapon . . .
There was a sharp increase in auto burglaries in the Richmond District out by the Cliff House, Legion of Honor, and Golden Gate National Recreation area in the first 2 weeks of January. Officer Lori Brophy worked all of the cases and managed to obtain a license number of a suspect vehicle. She found out the car was a rental and followed up as much as she could and eventually turned the case over to the Violence Reduction Team. Sergeant Scott Biggs took the case from there and found out that the person who was renting the suspect vehicle had a 20-year old son who had a prior record for several robberies committed in The City. A surveillance confirmed their theory that the young man with the criminal history was borrowing the car his parents were renting for his own criminal enterprise.
Officer Angel Lozano stopped a car on Market Street for a minor traffic infraction and the subsequent investigation revealed the driver was concealing a fully-loaded, 9mm semi-automatic.
And Officer Robert Pedersen had stopped an individual who was suspected of participating in a burglary nearby on the 900 block of Brussels. The suspect appeared very nervous and suddenly ran away from the detention. Officer Pedersen followed and when he caught up with the suspect, a fully-loaded, Glock .45 semi-automatic weapon fell from the suspect’s jacket. Turned out the individual stopped by Officer
Pedersen was not the burglary suspect the officers were looking for, but just someone in the wrong place at the wrong time . . .
Sergeant Joe Allegro has worked every corner of The City in his many years on the street. He was in the Southern District recently when a man was stabbed numerous times. Joe managed to track the suspect down to 5th and Bryant Streets and placed him in custody. The victim later died of his wounds
The Department will soon lose many other street-smart officers like Sergeant Joe Allegro due to retirement. It’s not just the number of personnel that are leaving but it’s their tremendous experience that will be gone with them. You just can’t replace the knowledge, skills, and abilities of so many talented people with a new Academy class.
Stay safe.
