Jul 9, 2009 12:53 pm US/Pacific
2 Jailed, 1 At Large In Murder Near Daly City BART
DALY CITY (BCN) ―
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L-R: Danilo Velasquez, Jaime Balam, Luis Herrera
Daly City PD
One of two suspected gunmen and the suspected getaway driver in a brazen fatal shooting near the Daly City BART station in February were arrested Wednesday morning, police announced Thursday.
The suspected shooter in custody is Danilo Velasquez, 28, and the alleged driver is 18-year-old Luis Herrera, police said.
The second suspected gunman, 20-year-old Jaime Balam, is still at large and believed to be in Mexico where he was deported shortly after the crime occurred but before he had been identified as a suspect, Daly City police Lt. Jay Morena said.
Police believe all three are members of the notorious Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, street gang, and that the victims may have been mistaken for members of the rival Norteno street gang.
"There's continuous rivalry," Morena said. "I don't even think there was a specific retaliation. (MS-13) are known to 'hunt' Nortenos. That's just what they do. They saw four young, Hispanic men who happened to be wearing red."
The shooting happened during the end of rush hour on Feb. 19 when two men got out of a silver or gray hatchback Honda on John Daly Boulevard, near the BART station entrance, and shot at four people in a gold Buick, police Detective Gregg Oglesby said.
The suspects got back into the car, driven by a third person, and fled north on Interstate Highway 280, Oglesby said.
The shooting killed San Francisco Public Utilities Commission technician Moises Frias, 21, and left two of the three other occupants of the Buick wounded.
Morena said described the victims as "completely innocent kids who were not involved in any drugs or gangs or anything of that nature" and that they were likely shot simply because they were Hispanic and wearing red, the color associated with the Norteno gang.
A multi-agency task force that included Daly City police, San Francisco police and federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents executed three search warrants in San Francisco's Hunters Point and Outer Mission neighborhoods early Wednesday, Morena said. ICE participated because the suspects are undocumented immigrants, police said.
During the operation, police found Velasquez driving nearby, apprehended him and booked him into San Mateo County jail in Redwood City on suspicion of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted first-degree murder with several enhancements.
Velasquez is believed to have used an assault weapon similar to an Uzi that day, Morena said.
Herrera was already in San Francisco County jail for unrelated charges. He was arrested Wednesday on the murder warrant and will be transferred to Redwood City, Morena said. He faces the same charges as Velasquez.
Police found the stolen Honda used in the shooting abandoned in San Francisco's Castro neighborhood shortly after the February incident.
Authorities are still looking for Balam and say there is a chance he may be back in the Bay Area because he had been deported twice prior to the February deportation, Morena said.
Police believe Balam used a 380 semi-automatic pistol that day.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)
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