Kathryn Michelle "Kate" Steinle (December 13, 1982 – July 1, 2015) was originally from Pleasanton, California, and graduated from Amador Valley High School and California Polytechnic State University. She was employed at Medtronic in San Francisco, and was living in Beale Street. Her funeral was held at a winery in Pleasanton on July 9.On July 1, 2015, a gunman opened fire on Pier 14 in the Embarcadero district in San Francisco, California, hitting 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle in the chest. She died two hours later at a hospital. An illegal immigrant from Mexico, Francisco Sanchez, was arrested and charged with murder. Authorities suspect that the shooting was random. The shooting sparked controversy and political debate over San Francisco's sanctuary city status.
At 6:30 p.m., a gunman, alleged to be Francisco Sanchez, fired three shots from a .40-caliber handgun at Pier 14, a tourist attraction area at the Embarcadero district. One of the bullets struck Steinle in the chest and pierced her aorta. She collapsed to the floor while saying, "Help me, dad, help me!" Her father, Jim Steinle, performed CPR on her before paramedics arrived and sent her to an ambulance. She died two hours later at San Francisco General Hospital. The suspect allegedly then kicked the firearm into the bay, then lit a cigarette and walked away. He was arrested about an hour later one mile away from the pier and was booked into San Francisco County Jail on suspicion of murder. The shooting was believed by police to be random. Divers from a police boat found the gun in the bay later that night.
Sanchez was formally charged with first-degree murder and a firearm enhancement on July 6. Sanchez admitted in a KGO-TV interview that he committed the shooting but said he found the gun wrapped in a T-shirt under a bench after taking sleep pills he found from a trash can. He also claimed that he was aiming at sea lions and that Steinle's shooting was accidental. He pleaded not guilty to the charges, and is currently being held on $5 million bail. Sanchez's attorney, Matt Gonzalez, stated in court that the shooting was likely accidental.
The gun used in the shooting was confirmed by forensic crime laboratory technicians to be the same one stolen from a federal agent's car. The .40-caliber handgun had been taken from a U.S. Bureau of Land Management ranger's car that was parked in downtown San Francisco, on June 27, 2015. The ranger was in San Francisco for an official government business trip. The ranger immediately reported the theft to San Francisco police, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation's National Crime Information Center. Police issued a citywide crime alert but did not call in CSI technicians to examine the scene.
On July 10, San Francisco County Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi said during a press conference that federal authorities failed to provide legal basis to hold Sanchez, and that the sheriff's department followed procedure and local laws when they released Sanchez after a 20-year-old warrant on a marijuana charge. A federal immigration request asked the San Francisco County's Sheriff's Department to hold Sanchez until US authorities could take him into custody for deportation screenings.
