SF CA: Cops Seeking Teen Gang That Committed Duboce Triangle Hate Crime Attack

On Saturday night, three white males described as being in their “mid-teens” attacked a 52-year-old Santa Barbara man with a baseball bat near Market and Sanchez in Duboce Triangle. The teens, who yelled homophobic slurs at the victim during the attack, fled with the man’s keys and had not been found as of Monday evening.

 

No arrests have been made yet and the victim waited until Sunday to report the crime. The three boys fled on foot and were wearing dark clothing.

The case is being handled by SFPD’s special investigations divisions, which covers hate crimes, and is the second alleged hate crime to have occurred in the neighborhood over the weekend. The other attack on a Sister of Perpetual Indulgence, occurred just over a block away on Market Street, although the two incidents appear unrelated.

Anyone with info on Saturday night’s incident is encouraged to call the Police Department’s anonymous tip line at (415) 575-4444 or send a tip by text message to TIP411.

An again: the Sisters Of Perpetual Indulgence, along with the Castro Community On Patrol (CCOP), and Triangle Martial Arts Association (TMAA), have helped form Stop The Violence, a campaign aimed at ending increasing violence in the Castro. The project helps distribute safety whistles, conducts personal safety seminars, and “take[s] any step necessary to make our communities safer.” Go here for more details.

[BCN/Appeal]

SF CA: Police still searching for gay man’s Killer a Year Later

This story has hit a heart string for me seeing that the murder occurred a block from my house. When the who, what and why’s are left unanswered my mind fills in the unknown with the worst case scenario. Let’s find this killer!

via B.A.R.

Last weekend marked the first anniversary of the murder of San Francisco resident Philip DiMartino. The gay 36-year-old was found dead in his apartment, located at 138 Hermann Street, on August 2, 2010.

The person responsible for DiMartino’s death hasn’t been caught, and police, family, and friends are hoping someone will come forward with information.

“This weekend was rough,” Lisa DiMartino, 39, DiMartino’s sister, said in an interview Monday, August 1. “My family and I think about Phil every day, of course, but hitting the one-year mark was tough.”

In its report on DiMartino’s death, the San Francisco Medical Examiner’s office said injuries included 48 stab wounds, most of them in his back. The cause of death was listed as “sharp force injuries with blunt force injuries.”

DiMartino’s body was found after a co-worker who had gone to check on him looked through a window and saw “a pair of what appeared to be bloody legs on the floor,” the report said. The co-worker did not enter the apartment, according to the report.

New SF police chief discusses Pink Saturday, Homosexual officers

San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr is looking forward to a safe Pink Saturday and the eventual promotion of out gay officers, he told theBay Area Reporter last week.

Discussing plans for Pink Saturday Suhr, 52, who was once the captain of Mission Station, which oversees the largely gay Castro neighborhood, said, “I consider myself somebody from the community,” and “I wouldn’t miss” the event.