SAN FRANCISCO Minivan driver shot to death on Silver Avenue

[j_shady]

88th killing of year -- surge blamed on 'everyday troubles'

A motorist driving his minivan along Silver Avenue in San Francisco was shot to death Tuesday afternoon -- the city's 88th killing of the year, tying the 2004 total.

Last year, when the number of homicides surged, Mayor Gavin Newsom said on a radio call-in show that if the rate of killings continued people should start a campaign to recall him. He said that he himself might even sign the petition. His staff called the comment "tongue in cheek.''

But on Tuesday he was called on his words. Newsom responded that he had been talking about curbing the city's gang violence, which police say has significantly gone down this year. Authorities blame some of 2005's numbers on everyday troubles beyond their control -- domestic violence, infanticide and mental illness.

"The reality is, we have had crimes this year that follow no traditional patterns,'' Newsom said. "The efforts that we've maintained around gang-related homicides, particularly in the African American community, have paid dividends this year. There's been substantial reductions, but again they're still unacceptably high and I'll continue to fight to do more and to do better.''

For Bob Ramos it was small consolation. He came home to the Portola neighborhood after a morning at the dentist Tuesday to find yellow crime tape in front of his door.

"There's something going on here all the time," he said of Silver Avenue, where he has lived for 16 years. "People are either racing up and down the street or committing crimes. Just recently my neighbor was mugged while walking into her house."

On Tuesday, at about 12:30 p.m., his street was the scene of the city's 88th killing. A motorist, whose identity was not released, was shot to death while driving his minivan on Silver. His passenger was also shot and taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, said San Francisco police spokeswoman Maria Oropeza. The suspects, three men in their late teens or early 20s, ditched their van in McLaren Park and fled on foot, Oropeza said. They were still at large as of Tuesday night.

Hours after the shooting, San Francisco resident Anna Cairns was still shaken.

"I heard the shots, one right after another," said Cairns who uses a wheelchair and looked from the picture window in her house on Silver Avenue. "At first I thought it was a backfire, but by the third or fourth bang I knew it was gun shots. I was terrified."

Maria Alvarez, who owns and operates Casa Sport, a soccer supply store, didn't see the shooting from her Silver Avenue shop. But she heard it. She said she'll never forget someone yelling at the dead victim, "talk to me, talk to me."

Her husband, Arturo, said the whole incident makes him nervous for his and his wife's safety.

Oropeza said police don't yet know the motive for the shooting. It has been a busy two days for the police department. On Monday evening a 33-year-old man, who was identified as Shaka Dumetz of Suisun City, was shot to death in his girlfriend's house in Silver Terrace. Police believe the shooter was Dumetz's acquaintance and are looking for him.

An increase in city violence was the subject of much discussion at the San Francisco Board of Supervisors' weekly meeting Tuesday. Supervisor Chris Daly asked for the city attorney to draft a charter amendment intended to address violence and homicides, which, in part, would mandate increased funding for prevention. Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi requested more information from law enforcement officials on homicide arrests, prosecutions and locations so policy can be more specifically tailored to combat the problem.

Homicide Lt. John Hennessey said police are doing the best they can.

"We've reduced black-on-black gang crime by 35 percent," he said. "We used a strategy and it worked. There's just not much we can do when a mother decides to throw her three children off the San Francisco pier."

(source: SFgate.com)