The undocumented immigrant and convicted felon accused of gunning down a woman in San Francisco admitted to shooting her in a jailhouse interview on Sunday.
But Francisco Sanchez referred to the Wednesday incident at Pier 14 as a sleeping pill-fueled accident and told KGO-TV “I’m feeling sorry for everybody” during the candid conversation only days after the death of 32-year-old Kate Steinle.
The 45-year-old Mexican man, whose background of five deportations and seven felony convictions has thrust the already-tragic case into national attention, swallowed some pills he found in a dumpster and picked up a gun that was cloaked in a t-shirt at the picturesque Embarcadero waterfront, he told KGO.
“Then, suddenly I heard that ‘boom boom,’ three times,” Sanchez said. He had answered “yes” when the local TV reporter asked if he shot Steinle.
Sanchez hopes he receives the most stringent punishment possible so he can tell the Pleasanton family he doesn’t want to live any longer, he later added in Spanish.
Regardless of his ultimate punishment, Sanchez should have been turned over to federal immigration officials again after his last arrest on drug charges back in March, they argued in interviews with the Los Angeles Times.
However, the feds could have arranged for his transfer back to federal confinement through a court order, San Francisco officials told the Times.
Sanchez ultimately walked free after those charges were dismissed, and he didn’t have a violent history before the shooting on Wednesday, despite multiple drug convictions, the Times reported.
His criminal record prompted Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to attribute Steinle’s untimely death to “our unsafe border” on Friday. Steinle’s parents responded that such concerns wouldn’t bring their beloved daughter back to life.
The anguished family of the deceased medical sales rep and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo grad started a GoFundMe page “to help the family continue to move forward” and to benefit two of her favorite causes, the Challenged Athletes Foundation and the Performing Animal Welfare Society, her older brother wrote on Saturday.
“Kate had a special soul, a kind and giving heart, the most contagious laugh I have ever heard and smile I have ever seen,” Brad Steinle wrote. “Kate loved to laugh, travel, spend time with friends, and most of all loved her family.
“The day before Kate died she changed her Facebook cover photo with a saying that said, ‘Whatever’s good for your soul……….do that.’ Please always remember Kate and live your life by these words,” he added.
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