Mayor Ed Lee blamed San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi Wednesday for not warning the feds about the release of Francisco Sanchez, the man arrested in the fatal shooting of 32-year-old Kate Steinle last week on Pier 14, reports ABC7.
While Mirkarimi has blamed the feds for returning Sanchez to San Francisco in March on a minor 20-year-old marijuana possession charge, documents obtained by ABC7 News indicated the request had come from the sheriff’s office. Mirkarimi continues to claim his department was simply responding to a request and arranged transportation for the feds.
In the first public statement about the shooting, Lee said there was nothing in the sanctuary city law preventing the sheriff from informing the feds of Sanchez.
“Nothing in that law prevents or prohibits communication, notification with our federal and state law enforcement officials,” said Lee. “Do I need to educate somebody about how to pick up a phone?”
The mayor is calling for a review.
The incident is further complicated by how Sanchez, who had been deported five times on various charges, obtained the gun used to kill Kate Steinle. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management admitted the gun was stolen from a ranger’s car back on June 27 in downtown San Francisco.
In an interview with ABC7, however, Sanchez claims he found the gun on a bench and the gun went off accidentally.
Sanchez is being held on $5 million bail and will return to court on July 27.
Various politicians have also weighed in on the event, discussing issues of illegal immigration and gun control. Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton made her first statement on the issue in an interview with CNN.
You can find out what see said in the clip below or on ABC7.
