Thursday News Roundup
THREE ARRESTED IN CONNECTION WITH APRIL HOMICIDE
San Francisco police arrested three people early Wednesday on suspicion of homicide and other offenses for allegedly striking and killing a woman during a pursuit in the city last month.
Robert Pelesauma, 19, Hunter Sagaiga, 19, and Faavesi Koka, 18, all San Francisco residents, were arrested on suspicion of homicide, conspiracy, evading police, possession of a stolen vehicle and multiple counts of robbery, police said.
Police said the trio had committed several armed robberies in the days before April 10, when they were fleeing police shortly before 10 p.m. after a robbery at Clay and Larkin streets.
The vehicle they were in struck and killed 42-year-old Bridget Klecker at California and Kearny streets in the city’s Financial District, police said.
The suspects continued to flee in the car, hitting another pedestrian near Union Square who did not suffer life-threatening injuries. The car, which had been stolen, was later found unoccupied on Treasure Island, police said.
The suspects were taken into custody Wednesday after the Police Department’s homicide detail served several search warrants in San Francisco, Hayward and Santa Rosa, police said.
TWO DEAD IN KITCHEN FIRE AT EAST OAKLAND HOME WEDNESDAY EVENING
Two people died and one is at a hospital in critical condition after a kitchen fire at a home in East Oakland on Wednesday evening, a fire battalion chief said today.
The fire was reported at 6:50 p.m. at a home in the 1700 block of 89th Avenue.
Three people in the home, a man and woman in their 50s and another man in his late 70s or early 80s, suffered serious smoke inhalation injuries and two later died, Acting Fire Battalion Chief Marlon Brandle said.
The fire apparently started on a pot on the stove in the kitchen, Brandle said. Firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze at 6:56 p.m. after arriving at the scene, he said.
“It must have been smoldering for a while,” Brandle said.
The victims’ names are not being released by the Alameda County coroner’s bureau until their family members are notified of the deaths.
GAS LEAK NEAR MOSCONE CENTER SUBWAY
A gas leak near the Moscone Center Wednesday afternoon appears to have been connected to construction work in the area on the Central Subway project, a PG&E spokesman said.
The leak was reported around 3:30 p.m. in the area of 4th and Folsom streets, according to the San Francisco Fire Department.
PG&E spokesman Nick Smith said it appears that a construction crew working on the Central Subway project in the area struck a 1-inch gas line, causing natural gas to be released.
PG&E crews responded and shut off the gas at 4:45 p.m., Smith said.
San Francisco Municipal Railway officials said the 12 Folsom bus was rerouted around the area and traffic is heavy.
Muni spokesman Paul Rose said Wednesday evening that construction on the Central Subway is underway in the area, but could not confirm that the gas line break was related.
STOLEN DUMP TRUCK PURSUED BY POLICE, SEVERAL INJURED IN CRASH
Police this morning are investigating an incident involving a stolen Mack Truck dump truck that led officers on a pursuit that eventually ended in a crash in Daly City.
An officer was patrolling the area of 1300 Isabelle Circle in Colma at 12:18 a.m. when the officer spotted a suspicious dump truck, police said.
The truck was reported stolen out of San Francisco, so the officer tried to pull the truck over, but the driver attempted to ram the patrol vehicle and then fled the area, police said.
The pursuit then traveled through South San Francisco and Daly City, where the suspect collided into an occupied vehicle, injuring several people, police said.
The suspect then tried to flee the area on foot, but was apprehended and transported to the hospital for injuries suffered in the crash, police said.
The suspect will be booked into jail after he is released from the hospital, police said.
