By Dan Simon, Sara Sidner and Ed Payne, CNN
Updated 1:35 PM ET, Wed July 8, 2015
San Francisco (CNN)The gun used in the killing of a San Francisco woman in a case that gave new political prominence to the issue of illegal immigration was stolen from a vehicle belonging to a federal Bureau of Land Management agent, a source familiar with the investigation said Wednesday.
Kate Steinle was shot to death on July 1 on one of San Francisco’s busiest piers.
The .40-caliber pistol was a personal weapon, not an official firearm, the source said. Investigators still are trying to determine how Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, the man accused in Steinle’s killing, allegedly obtained the weapon, according to the source.
Earlier, a source close to the probe told CNN that the gun belonged to a federal agent.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported this week that the weapon was stolen in a car burglary in June, citing sources close to the investigation.
Kate Steinle, 32, died after being shot July 1 at a San Francisco pier.
Lopez-Sanchez told CNN affiliate KGO-TV that he fired the weapon, but it was an accident. He said he’d found the gun wrapped inside a T-shirt before it accidentally went off.
It was not clear if Lopez-Sanchez understood all the questions posed in English and Spanish during the KGO interview. He appeared disoriented and gave contradictory answers about what had happened and how he felt.
Shooting victim Kate Steinle known for thinking of others first
Lopez-Sanchez is an undocumented immigrant and a repeat felon who has been deported to Mexico five times, according to immigration officials.
The case has drawn the attention of presidential candidates and brought a renewed focus on U.S. immigration laws and the role local authorities should play in enforcing them.
The key question is whether San Francisco’s policies set the stage for the shooting by putting a criminal on the streets instead of delivering him into the hands of federal authorities who could have deported him again.
https://www.cnn.com/2015/07/08/us/san-francisco-killing/index.html
I wonder if a civilian had left a firearm in a car the press would be all over them as contributing to the eventual crime? No trigger lock? Lock box?