The brother of Kate Steinle, who was shot on July 1, 2015, by a seven-time felon and five-times deported illegal alien, said the system’s “epic failure” led to Jose Garcia Zarate being released, on the streets, and with a loaded handgun.
Brad Steinle made the remark in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper just days before a San Francisco jury found Zarate not guilty of murdering Kate Steinle, a crime he admitted to committing in an interview with a local television station.
The published story included the family’s reaction to the not guilty verdict and the conviction of possession of a firearm.
“We’re just shocked — saddened and shocked … that’s about it,” Kate’s father, Jim Steinle, said. “There’s no other way you can coin it. Justice was rendered, but it was not served.”
“I’m stunned that they couldn’t even get him on using the weapon,” Brad Steinle.
Brad Steinle told the Chronicle that he can’t believe the “culmination of errors” that led to Kate’s death, including a lack of understanding about weapons, given the defense team’s argument to the jury that the gun went off accidentally.
“I own a handgun,” Brad Steinle said. “I know that guns don’t just go off. But you have a jury full of people, the vast majority of which probably haven’t shot a gun before and don’t know the intricacies of how a gun works.”
The Chronicle reported that, while the family said they support some protection for illegal aliens who report crimes, the city only changed its sanctuary city policies slightly after Kate’s murder and that puts other Americans at risk.
The Chronicle reported:
The bottom line: An undocumented immigrant with Garcia Zarate’s exact criminal history still could be released from jail to the streets without a call to alert Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Zarate, previously known as Juan Francisco Lopez Sanchez, confessed to shooting Steinle in a jailhouse interview with a local ABC News affiliate. He also told the outlet that he had chosen to come to San Francisco because he knew it was a sanctuary city.
Breitbart News reported:
An ICE official told Breitbart News that ICE Enforcement and Removal had begun processing the suspect for reinstatement of removal from the U.S. in March. But instead, Lopez-Sanchez was transferred on March 26 from the Bureau of Prisons in another city to the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department (SFSD) because of a drug warrant. ICE then filed the detainer request to be notified prior to Lopez-Sanchez’s release from custody.
California lawmakers have since voted to make California a sanctuary state.