Francisco Sanchez, the suspected murderer of Kate Steinle, admitted to firing the fatal shots and said he kept coming back to the US and returned to San Francisco because he knew it was a sanctuary city in an interview with San Francisco’s ABC 7 KGO released on Sunday.
Sanchez, who answered some questions in Spanish and others in English, after admitting to shooting Steinle (although, he did say he didn’t have a clear recollection of events because of the sleeping pills he took), was asked, “Why did you keep coming back to the US, why did you come back to San Francisco?” He answered, “Because I was looking for jobs in the restaurant or roofing, landscaping, or construction.” Sanchez also said he considered going to Oregon for work and lived in both Oregon and Washington state. He further mentioned working in Phoenix, AZ. He also said, according to ABC 7’s translator, that he would receive calls from his employers looking for work and that is why he kept coming back to the US.
ABC 7 reports that later in the interview, Sanchez claimed that he found a gun wrapped in a t-shirt and that it accidentally discharged when he picked it up. He also gave divergent answers regarding how he feels about the crime, saying at one point that he didn’t feel bad about the shooting because it was an accident, and at another that he was “sorry” for what happened. He further told interviewers when asked in English that he didn’t remember his initial claim to law enforcement that he was shooting at seals with the gun.
Sanchez was also asked, (relevant exchange begins at 43:30 of the video below) “San Francisco is a sanctuary city, did you keep coming back to San Francisco because you knew that they wouldn’t actively look for you to deport you?” He answered, “Yes.” An answer he repeated after being asked again in Spanish. He also nodded when asked, “So you kept coming back to San Francisco instead of Phoenix?”
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