By Rosanna Xia
Los Angeles Times
SAN FRANCISCO — A man suspected of shooting and killing a woman at a popular tourist spot in San Francisco was on probation and had been deported multiple times, officials said Friday.
Francisco Sanchez, 45, was booked into San Francisco County Jail this week on suspicion of homicide. He was on active probation for an unspecified conviction in Texas, San Francisco police said.
Sanchez has seven felony convictions and has been deported five times, most recently in 2009, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said Friday. Four of those convictions involved narcotics charges.
The immigration agency had turned Sanchez over to San Francisco police in March on an outstanding drug warrant, spokeswoman Virginia Kice said. Immigration officials issued a detainer at that time, requesting notification prior to his release so arrangements could be made to take him into custody.
“The detainer was not honored,” Kice said in a statement. The immigration agency “places detainers on aliens arrested on criminal charges to ensure dangerous criminals are not released from prisons or jails into our communities.”
Sanchez was arrested Wednesday after police responded to reports of a shooting on Pier 14 near the Embarcadero and Mission Street.
Police found Kathryn Steinle, 32, with a gunshot wound to her upper torso. Bystanders and police tried to help her until paramedics arrived, authorities said. She was taken to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Witnesses gave police photos and descriptions of the shooter. Authorities found Sanchez about an hour later.
There appeared to be no connection between Steinle and Sanchez, police said.
Two Bay Area news crews covering the attack on Steinle on Thursday were robbed at gunpoint on live TV.
Part of the robbery was captured on air, showing a man striking KNTV-TV camera operator Alan Waples with a gun.
Video showed the assailant approaching Waples and putting a gun to his head while reporter Kris Sanchez pleaded for him not to shoot, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Waples was flung to the ground and struck with the gun. San Francisco police said Waples suffered a head injury. According to KNTV, the cameraman’s ear was cut.