Homicide count nears ’07 total
By: Tamara Barak Aparton and Katie Worth
San Francisco Examiner
December 1, 2008
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| Rare occurrence: Police say killings are uncommon in the east end of Golden Gate Park. (Katie Worth/The Examiner) |
SAN FRANCISCO — Gunshots erupted at a raucous party in Golden Gate Park on Saturday night, leaving a 20-year-old San Francisco man dead.
Witnesses say the victim, identified by authorities as Brandon Evans, was among about 100 young people drinking and listening to a live band perform at the horseshoe pits above the Conservatory of Flowers.
A 911 call summoned authorities to Conservatory Drive shortly before 11 p.m., where they found Evans fatally wounded, Park Station police said. No arrests have been made.
The east end of Golden Gate Park is the scene of occasional assaults, usually between homeless people, but shootings are rare, authorities said Sunday.
San Francisco couple Anita Carter, 41, and Eddie Butler, 43, were hanging out nearby when they heard seven or eight gunshots. The pair rushed to the area and found a young man laying at the foot of some stairs.
“As soon as we heard the shots, we saw everybody just run,” Butler said. “The cops were looking for the gun all over and in the bushes.”
The couple has frequented that area of the park for the last seven years.
“Sometimes the guys will drink too much and get in a fistfight, but there’s never any guns or knives,” Carter said.
Hayes Valley resident Michael Allar, 50, said he is sick of the noisy gatherings.
“I come to the park just about every weekend, and the group of hooligans who congregate up there at the horseshoe pit are scary,” he said. “They’re thugs. You hear them and nobody does anything about them — no cops, no gardeners, no park police, nothing.
They send the mayor’s people up here to clean it up, but it’s nothing but Band-Aids.”
The homicide is the second in five days. On Tuesday morning, 29-year-old Richard Barrett was allegedly gunned down after an argument in North Beach.
The Police Department reports 97 homicides in The City to date. There was also one homicide reported at Ocean Beach, which is federal property and not included in the police count. In addition, there are numerous deaths with undetermined causes that may later be ruled homicides.
The City had a decade-high 98 homicides in 2007.
Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, who serves on The City’s Public Safety Committee, said the unrelenting tide of killings must be stemmed.
“It’s impossible to predict all homicides,” he said, “but there could be more vigorous levels of prevention and deterrence. I believe there is an absence of leadership on this issue, or we would not have seen such chronic numbers for five years. There has to be some admission that certain strategies just may not be working.”
tbarak@sfexaminer.com
kworth@sfexaminer.com
Recent homicide victims
Saturday
Brandon Evans, 20, shot, Conservatory Drive, Golden Gate Park
Tuesday
Richard Barrett, 20, shot, Broadway and Kearny Street, North Beach
Nov. 23
Victor Cipriano-Lopez, 22, shot, 22nd and Valencia streets, Mission district
Nov. 8
Vicky Velarde, 30, shot, 200 block of Missouri Street, Potrero Hill
Nov. 3
John Rodgers, 35, shot, unit block of Fair Avenue, Bernal Heights
