The random killing of a San Francisco woman by an illegal immigrant has already fueled another immigration debate, with U.S. immigration policies being criticised by lawmakers and presidential candidates alike.
According to the Associated Press, as reported by yahoo.com, a law enforcement official with knowledge of the case, who was not authorised to speak publicly about the case and spoke on condition of anonymity, said a check of the serial number on the gun showed it belonged to a federal agent.
The San Jose Mercury News has confirmed that authorities in San Francisco say the gun used to kill Steinle belonged to a federal agent, a development first reported by ABC7 News. The gun was allegedly stolen from a U.S. Bureau of Land Management agent’s car.
The gun is being described as a semi-automatic gun which divers found off pier 14 in San Francisco the day after the shooting. It was not known if the gun was a government-issued weapon, or was privately owned.
The suspect claims he found the gun used in the shooting on a bench wrapped in a T-shirt. Sanchez also claims the gun went off accidentally, shooting Steinle in the back. The bullet pierced her aorta and she collapsed to the ground. Her father tried to save her, but she later died in the hospital.
CNN reported the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office was blindsided by the revelation. Spokeswoman Tamara Barak Aparton said, “We don’t have that discovery yet, that evidence has not been provided yet to us. We certainly want to know (how the agent’s gun ended up in the shooter’s hands), and that’s one of the things we’ll be investigating.”
Matt Gonzalez, a public defender representing Lopez-Sanchez, says his client is not a violent person, and the shooting was accidental. “There was no motive whatsoever for this defendant to cause any harm to the deceased,” he said. “He did not know her. There’s no allegation that this was any kind of crime, such as a robbery attempt or anything like that.”
