One alleged gang member of something called the “Fuck Everyone Gang” is in custody on charges of stealing $970,000 worth of merchandise, and police found him after he used his getaway vehicle in a music video.

KPIX posted a story Wednesday night about an alleged Oakland gang called the Fuck Everyone Gang, saying they’re “accused of burglarizing dozens of businesses across state.” Wait a minute, is there really a Fuck Everyone Gang, or is this just local TV news sensationalism looking for clicks?

Oh yes, there absolutely is an Oakland-based Fuck Everyone Gang. We can find references to this gang going back to a 2019 Bay Area News Group article where one of the gang’s members was sentenced for a fatal 2018 shooting at a Mike’s Mini Mart on MacArthur Boulevard. That article describes the Fuck Everyone Gang as a “subset of the ENT/YNIC gang in Oakland,” and it is relevant that the shooting happened at a convenience store.

The Bay Area News Group has a newer report this week that three members of the Fuck Everyone Gang are accused of stealing $970,000 worth of merchandise in 34 burglaries during a just two-month span. And there are enormous similarities between these robberies. The gang seemed to exclusively target high-end shops like Louis Vuitton, and corner convenience stores, at which they would only steal cases and cartons of cigarettes.

They hit Louis Vuitton stores in Walnut Creek and San Diego, and a reported 20 convenience stores in the Bay Area. Walnut Creek police detective Jenna Kolmeister started noticing similarities.

"The detective there at the task force was seeing all these cigarette store burglaries that were happening at night. The suspect vehicles were all the same," Kolmeister told KPIX. "It was the same thing every time. The same people every time, the same MO every time, the same vehicles every time."

But if you are going to use the same vehicle over for multiple thefts, it is probably best that you do not use that vehicle in your rap video, and then post said rap video to YouTube.

26-year-old Robert Lee Johnson is also the rapper above who goes by the name Big Paid. Investigators have used security video to allege that the very vehicle in this rap video was used to carry out many of the above-described robberies. Johnson is currently in custody, per the Bay Area News Group, on 30 charges of burglary and vandalism.

Oh, and at the time of the burglaries, he was apparently wearing the GPS ankle monitor courts had forced him to wear for previous charges.

Johnson is accused of having two accomplices in the crimes; 22-year-old Oakland man Alejandro McDonald (also seen in the above video), and Oakland resident Quinn Edwards. Both of those suspects remain at large.

Related: Police: Louis Vuitton Smash-and-Grab Was Coordinated on Snapchat [SFist]

Image: Big Paid via Youtube

In a case where the sentenced killer had been well-connected with City Hall officials, a brawl broke out between the victim’s family and the defendant’s friends after Norteño gang member Fernando Madrigal was sentenced to 33 years in prison.

It was already a highly unusual case, where a so-called former gang member who’d killed two people was also a well-known anti-violence crusader with the group United Playaz, a vocal advocate to get SF Juvenile Hall closed, and even got Supervisor Hillary Ronen to write him a favorable letter to get his sentencing reduced from a prior carjacking conviction.

But 25-year-old Fernando Madrigal was leading a double life as an anti-violence advocate and a gang member, until he was arrested in 2020 for the murder of 15-year-old Day’von Hann. For that and another separate murder, Madrigal was sentenced to 33 years in prison Thursday, according to an announcement from the US District Attorney’s Office of Northern California.  

But things got even more highly unusual after Madrigal’s sentencing, as the Chronicle reports a fight broke out in the hallway of the courtroom. The fight was reportedly between Madrigal’s friends and supporters and Hann’s family.

“Some woman on the other side said, ‘Fuck you and what you’re going through,’ and it was on,” Hann’s mother Sha’ray Johnson told the Chronicle. The Chron also describes that “federal security officers and marshals quelled the fighting and both sides were dispatched separately to elevators.”

In the case of the 2019 killing of the teen Day’von Hann, Madrigal had apparently mistaken the innocent Hann for a rival gang member. According to the US Attorney’s Office, “Madrigal admitted he committed these two murders in part to earn respect from other SFMD Norteños and to enhance his status in the gang.”

Yes, that’s two murders. The previous murder was the 2018 killing of Luis Garcia, whom Madrigal lured to Candlestick Park saying he wanted to buy some marijuana from Garcia, but instead just shot him and stole the weed. Per the the US Attorney, “Madrigal admitted he shot and killed the victim, disposed of the victim’s cell phone on or near the San Mateo Bridge, and dumped the victim’s body in the Oakland Hills, where it was found more than a year later.”

Two of Madrigal’s gang accomplices were also sentenced Thursday for a 2018 incident where they shot and killed one man, and shot another woman in the face. Alvaro Reina Cordero (26) and Oscar Guadron Diaz (24) were sentenced to 26 years in Cordero’s case, and 21 years in Guadron Diaz’s case.

Related: Alleged Gang Member Arrested In July 2019 Murder Was Youth Activist Who Campaigned to Close Juvenile Hall [SFist]

Image: San Francisco Court House Federal building entrance with American flag (Getty Images)

In a trial that followed over a dozen other convictions of his MS-13 associates, Elmer Rodriguez, a.k.a Gordo, was convicted in federal court this week on multiple counts of murder, attempted murder, and racketeering conspiracy.

Rodriguez, 34, was one of 13 members of the notorious MS-13 20th Street clique based in San Francisco indicted in November 2021 for a raft of crimes, as part of an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with help from the San Francisco Police Department Homicide Unit and multiple other law enforcement agencies. The group were charged in 15 different acts of violence, and to date, prior Rodriguez's conviction, 13 defendants have been convicted and are behind bars.

A leader of the clique, Rodriguez was convicted for ordering the murders of Jorge Martinez near 19th and Mission Street on March 17, 2017, and Giovanni Alvarez, a.k.a. “P Wee,” on May 25, 2017. And the trial also centered on racketeering activities and other murders believed to be committed by the 20th Street clique, including the previously unsolved murder of German Polanco Gil on September 2, 2015; and the February 2018 murder of Gilberto Rodriguez at the Gray Whale Cove parking lot in Pacifica.

"Bringing these violent criminal gang members to justice is a direct result of the partnerships between HSI SF, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the San Francisco Police Department and the San Mateo County Sherriff’s Office,” said Tatum King, special agent in charge, HSI San Francisco / NorCal. "HSI personnel and law enforcement partners dedicated years to this complex investigation with the ultimate goals of holding criminals accountable and prevention of additional victimization in our communities."

The murder of Jorge Martinez in March 2017 was particularly tragic. As the Department of Justice explains in a release, "Martinez had been celebrating his birthday after attending a Warriors basketball game with his son. After the game, they went to a bar in the Mission District. Rodriguez and other MS-13 clique members were also present at the bar that night and identified Martinez as a possible rival Norteño gang member. Rodriguez ordered another clique associate to murder Martinez. The associate followed Martinez out of the bar and shot him to death."

Alvarez, who was a 20th Street clique member, was murdered two months later because Rodriguez reportedly believed he was cooperating with law enforcement.

"Rodriguez and his associates, including Edwin Alvarado Amaya, a/k/a 'Muerte' and Kenneth Campos, a/k/a 'Nesio,' lured Alvarez into a car. Campos drove the group to Bernal Heights Park where the group intended to kill him. At the park, Rodriguez gave a signal to Alvarado Amaya, who then hacked Alvarez to death by inflicting dozens of deep wounds to his face and torso with a machete," the DOJ explains.

Alvarado Amaya and Campos previously pleaded guilty to the murder and have both been sentenced.

See the extent of the charges against Rodriguez here. He now faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

Previously: San Francisco Police Arrest Eight Alleged Gang Members, Recover Stolen Property

Two men who are said to be members of San Francisco's Mac Block gang have been found guilty by a federal jury of killing one man and injuring several others in a March 2019 shooting at a memorial service on Fillmore Street — and they were convicted under federal racketeering charges which come with life sentences.

The shooting outside the Fillmore Heritage Center on March 23, 2019 made headlines for several weeks in the Bay Area, hinting at long simmering gang conflicts and occurring outside the memorial service for a notorious local character. Six people were shot, one of them fatally, and the deceased was identified as 25-year-old Mister Dee Carnell Simmons III of San Leandro.

In total, federal prosecutors say "at least" 24 shots were fired.

The shooting injured four innocent bystanders, including a 27-year-old man who was paralyzed from the waist down due to his injuries.

The participants in what prosecutors described as a gang-war-style shootout were all attendees at the funeral of self-described reformed pimp and "drug kingpin" Ron Newt, who had died earlier that month. (Newt was also a self-styled music mogul, who claimed in at least one interview that he had been offered $200,000 to tell a court that Michael Jackson had touched some kids, something he vehemently denied Jackson did.)

The two shooting suspects were identified as Jamare Coats and Robert Manning, now 26 and 28 years old, respectively — a third man, Sean Harrison, was initially named in the shooting as well. And the San Francisco DA's office said in the week after the shooting that the suspects would not face murder charges due to the fact that they were apparently engaged in a shootout with Simmons, who may have brandished his weapon first. (This was still George Gascon's DA's office at the time.)

But federal prosecutors stepped in in early 2020 and charged Coats and Manning each with one count of using a gun in a crime of violence resulting in death, and one count of being an ex-felon in possession of a gun. And in August of last year, a federal grand jury handed down a second superseding indictment charging both men with murder in aid of racketeering — with prosecutors characterizing the activities of the Mac Block gang as a "racketeering enterprise."

The Justice Department announced Monday that, following a three-week trial, a federal jury handed down guilty verdicts against both men.

During the trial, prosecutors showed how both Coats and Manning were in possession of guns they had procured across state lines and brought illegally into California. And they argued that the two men "provoked" the shooting.

In accordance with the Violent Crimes in Aid of Racketeering Activity (VICAR) statute, Coats and Manning face mandatory sentences of life in prison, plus additional statutory sentences up to 10 years for the gun possession charges.

U.S. District Judge William H. Alsup has scheduled their sentencing for October 11.

Related: Fillmore Shooting Suspects Were At Funeral For 'Local Pimp,' Will Not Face Murder Charges, Say Prosecutors

Photo: Google Street View

A 21-year-old man who was killed near Union Square last week was wanted in connection with a May home invasion robbery in Fremont — and police had been looking for him for months.

The victim in the October 1 shooting, which as Hoodline reported occurred around 5 p.m. on the 100 block of Geary, near Stockton, has been identified as Vermond Jones, a resident of San Francisco. The shooting death reportedly occurred after an altercation with another person, whom police apparently detained on Thursday. But as NBC Bay Area reports, the SFPD has not announced any arrests in the case.

KPIX now reports that Jones was killed in the course of an armed robbery attempt by a group of men. Jones was wanted by Fremont and San Francisco police for the earlier home invasion, in addition to having multiple pending court hearings for robberies, removing a court-ordered monitoring device, and more.

According to a May 19 press release from the Fremont Police Department, Jones was a known member of the "Fillmore - Knock Out Posse" gang, and a suspected accomplice in the Fremont home invasion, 23-year-old Tyler Spears of Antioch, was arrested on May 14.

"It appears that Jones has been arrested for no less than thirty-five (35) separate charges and all those cases are still pending," the Fremont PD said. "However, in spite of all of the above, Jones had been released from custody on a GPS ankle monitor while those cases worked their way through the court process. Jones had the GPS ankle monitor on during the above crime spree on May 5^th."

Jones was considered armed and dangerous, as was Spears, and the arrest of Spears involved the SWAT team.

As KPIX reports, like Jones, Spears had been released on zero-bail pending his court hearings, but he was then accused in another home-invasion robbery in September in Antioch. He has been held in the Martinez Detention Facility since that time.

Bernal neighbors are angry over a party on a Saturday night ten days ago that ended with an eruption of gunfire and a scattering of scared partygoers, with some running across roofs and others fleeing down the street. The party was being thrown at a two-bedroom at 212 Banks Street that according to the Examiner has been "frequently rented [out] on Airbnb and VRBO by “'Erik,' an owner who apparently lives in Indonesia." It's unclear if the house had been a nuisance to neighbors before, but as the Examiner notes, because it's an entire single-family home being allegedly rented out by an absentee owner, it's in violation of the city's short-term rental law, and it was not registered with the city.

Airbnb and competitor VRBO have until January to remove all such scofflaw listings, and the Ex confirms that they have now removed this one, which was on both sites, with Airbnb issuing a statement saying, "We have zero tolerance for this type of behavior and upon learning of this incident, we permanently banned this guest from our platform, suspended the listing and reached out to law enforcement to offer our assistance." Airbnb has also offered to reimburse any neighboring homeowners who may have suffered any property damage.

According to a police report obtained by Bernalwood, the incident on Saturday, October 14/early Sunday, October 15 began with a party that some gang-affiliated party people were throwing and advertising with flyers. Allegedly, rival gang members found out about the party from one of the flyers, showed up, and multiple people with guns opened fire. Ingleside Capt. Joseph McFadden says that "houses and cars were hit with many bullets," and "amazingly," no one was hurt except for one individual who was shot "in the butt." And witnesses have been cooperating with the investigation.

"The shootout on Banks Street was terrifying and outrageous,” Supervisor Hillary Ronen tells the Examiner in a statement. "What occurred was the result of a flagrant disregard for San Francisco law."

Under a compromised settlement reached earlier this year, Airbnb and its rivals have agreed to force all of their users to register with the city's Office of Short-Term Rentals, and to ban anyone from the platform who does not have such registration. The companies have until January 2018 to reach full compliance, after which they will be fined $1000 per day per illegal listing, by the city.

A community meeting to address the shooting, among other concerns of the neighborhood, is scheduled Wednesday evening from 6 to 7 p.m. at the Bernal Heights Community Center, as Bernalwood reports.

Neighbors of Dolores Park, from the adjacent Castro and Dolores Heights environs, gathered Monday evening for a contentious community meeting with the SFPD and D8 Supervisor Jeff Sheehy to discuss what they see as a growing crime problem and gang presence in the park. The meeting follows on the brazen midday shooting that took place August 3, which injured three people and for which no suspects have yet been identified.

SFist received a list of questions for the police and talking points that circulated among neighbors of the park over the weekend, ahead of the meeting, and it reveals a community that is increasingly angry about the possible presence of gang members selling hard drugs, particularly on and around the 19th Street footbridge that connects Church Street to the park. And, naturally, they're still up in arms about all the drinking that happens in the park on sunny weekends, and the noisy party atmosphere that comes with it.

One of the shooting victims, 69-year-old Jeff Kelton, spoke out at the meeting, as the Chronicle reports. Kelton said he saw a "group of kids" on the pedestrian bridge and then shots rang out, injuring him and two others. He thanks police officers for their quick response, saying they saved his life, and said he hopes they will continue regular foot patrols.

As Mission Local reports from the meeting, Kelton continued to say that he knew 24/7 patrols weren't possible, but he added, "There should be some leaking out into the surrounding streets of the park. It’s not just Dolores Park — it’s the neighborhood, the whole system."

SFPD Chief Bill Scott addressed the 100 or so gathered at the meeting saying that the August 3 shooting was "a huge, huge event for the city, and particularly Dolores Park. When we get to the level of violence when someone is shot mid-day, it is cause for serious concern."

He explained that investigators believe the shooting was gang-related, and possibly connected to a victimless shooting a month before, though the investigation is ongoing.

Criminal activity surrounding this pedestrian bridge isn't anything new — possibly because of the cover it provides for the area by the Muni tracks below it, and the proximity to getaway cars on Church. As we reported two summers ago, in July 2015, three suspects shot two men on the footbridge and fled, and it's unclear if that shooting was ever solved.

Rec & Parks director Phil Ginsburg acknowledged that rethinking the pedestrian bridge, which doesn't even have a crosswalk associated with it, was not part of the park's redesign two years ago, and maybe this could be "the next step in environmental design."

The talking points circulated among neighbors, in addition to addressing perceived gang activity around the footbridge, also pointed out what they say is a growing "homeless encampment taking root at the 18th Street Muni station [and the adjacent hillside]. Park rangers and SFPD regularly drive by these 'campers' w/tents and multiple bicycles around them. They are openly 'injecting' a substance and smoking from glass pipes. The smell is not marijuana." The neighbor who composed the memo suggests that more enforcement, and arrests for such flagrant drug use, are necessary in addition to more foot patrols to deter drug sales.

The memo also notes adults and ne'er-do-wells using the children's playground for illicit activities after dark, and, of course, it devolves into complaints about trash collection and the overall party atmosphere in the park that has existed, pretty much unchanged, for a decade. "The 'anything goes' attitude of Dolores Park weekends continues to be a concern," the neighbor writes. "The community now hosts a 'frat party' in Dolores Park every weekend the temperature is above 70 degrees. Too much of a good thing, taken to an extreme. The lack of enforcement around alcohol has led to keg parties, and unauthorized DJ’s in the park blaring music. Can we at least ask for common sense law enforcement around these issues?"

Monday's meeting, clearly, had bigger fish to fry, and focused on the shooting and police patrols.

Local grocery store worker 25-year-old Nick Derenzi, though, noted that most of the people at the meeting were older and white, and he told Mission Local he wished more young people and people of color had been there — those who might not appreciate constant foot patrols by cops. "My fear is that SFPD has had so many problems in the past with communities of color..." he said.

For now, suffice it to say your edibles sellers and the rum-and-coconut guy should be on alert for busts, and/or you should be careful about bringing glass into the park, which is Rec & Park's biggest no-no that they like to bust you for.

Related: More Details Released On Dolores Park Shooting Victims, Suspects Still At Large

A major murder trial is ongoing in Alameda County in the case of Darnell Williams Jr., 25, who stands accused of the fatal shooting of eight-year-old Alaysha Carradine in East Oakland in 2013 — an indiscriminate and horrific act of violence that shocked the Bay Area, despite the unfortunate frequency of homicide news out of Oakland. Alaysha Carradine was murdered because she answered a doorbell during a sleepover with a friend at the friend's grandmother's house, and two other children as well as the grandmother were also wounded in the blaze of gunfire. Williams is on trial both for Carradine's death and for the murder of 22-year-old Anthony "Tone" Medearis Jr. two months later, killings that prosecutors characterize as "a rampage of violence" by a convicted felon with ties to a Berkeley gang who wasn't even allowed to possess a firearm.

Williams was arrested just three weeks after Medearis's murder, as NBC Bay Area reported, as police believed he and his associates were planning multiple murders in a revenge spree.

As Berkeleyside reports, the latest witness to take the stand in the trial, which began in late March, was Williams's ex-girlfriend Britney Rogers. As she previously did in a preliminary hearing in 2014, Rogers testified that she was with Williams the night of Carradine's murder, that he came home to her apartment with two guns and wearing a bullet-proof vest, and that he confessed to the shooting, though he did not necessarily know whom he had shot.

According to Rogers, after smoking a blunt on the drive over, Williams approached the house, rang the bell, and began shooting indiscriminately through the metal screen as soon as it opened, hitting Carradine, two other children, and the grandmother down the hall. After shooting a total of 13 bullets, he then got back in the car and returned to Rogers's home.

First responders have described the horrific scene, and one police officer's story of arriving to save Alaysha Carradine was relayed during opening statements in the trial. As the Mercury-News reported, the jury has already seen video of Oakland police officer Jason Mitchell describing finding a still breathing Alaysha in a pool of blood, and paramedic Julie Silva described Alaysha's last words in the ambulance.

During the ambulance ride, Silva described trying to reassure her as she slipped in and out of consciousness.

"Then she let out a scream that will haunt me to the day I die," Silva said.

Alaysha told Silva, "I'm dead."

"And I said ,'No baby girl, you're not dead; you're hurt,' " Silva said, and then kissed her on the forehead.

"'Well that means I'm dying. I'm dying,' " Silva said, recounting Alaysha's last words.

According to Rogers, she and Williams stayed up all night after he had confessed to the shooting, until they saw the first news reports on television around 5:30 a.m. When they saw that an eight-year-old girl had been killed, Rogers says that Williams's response was "Fuck that bitch."

She said she was "uneasy," and that the two began to fight about what had happened in the shooting. She says Williams then immediately turned on her, and threatened to kill her and her entire family if she snitched.

Defense attorneys have tried to discredit both Rogers and another female witness in the case by calling them both "prostitutes," and by poking holes in Rogers's account. Rogers said she remained constantly fearful about retribution, but that she "just want[ed] to give this family justice." Previously, she sent her own children away to stay with an older friend, because she feared for their lives as well.

She also insists that while Williams tried more than once to get her to have to sex for money, in order to give it to him, she had never exchanged money for sex.

The defense also insists that no murder weapon or other evidence exists to tie Williams to the crimes, and thus Rogers's testimony is key in any possible conviction.

Testimony continues in the shooting of Medearis in September 2013, and the trial is expected to last until June. Because of the special circumstances of multiple murders and "lying in wait" in the case of Carradine's killing, Williams could potentially face the death penalty, which will be decided in the sentencing phase of the trial.

Previously: Oakland: 8-Year-Old Girl Shot, Killed During Sleepover

Assuming you've all been anxiously awaiting news of the fate of last summer's internet celebrity Jeremy Meeks, of hot mugshot fame, here it is: He's been convicted on that gun charge and sentenced to 27 months in jail, as CBS Sacramento reports.

Meeks, 30, was arrested last June by Stockton police after leaving a home where a search warrant was being executed by the FBI and the ATF. He and another man were taken into custody after the search came up with a semi-automatic handgun and two extended magazines, neither of which Meeks should legally have had in his possession since he was previously convicted of a felony and was on probation. An earlier report also suggested that the firearm, a .45 caliber pistol, had been transported across state lines in the commission of grand theft. The DA's office further accused Meeks and his friend of being members of the Northside Gangster Crips as well.

He previously served two years in connection with a grand theft of an auto in Solano County, and as the LA Times adds, that teardrop tattoo on his cheek was for "doing some [other] things in his past he is not proud of."

But despite Meeks probably being a scary dude, he tried to downplay his own criminal past after his mugshot went wildly viral. It turned out that he's married to this woman, who was allegedly upset by all the attention her very gorgeous gangster husband was getting.

The same Hollywood agent who represented "Octomom" Nadya Suleman claimed to have landed Meeks a modeling contract, should he ever want to try that once he's free to walk the streets.

During his two years behind bars, Meeks will be required to complete the 500-Hour Bureau of Prisons Substance Abuse Treatment Program. That stipulation has not been further explained.

A spokesman for the Stockton Police Department, who originally posted Meeks's photo to their Facebook page, causing all this hubbub, said only, "The Police Department is glad this criminal case has come to its conclusion."

All previous coverage of Meeks on SFist.

As Michael Corleone can attest, it's hard to maneuver oneself out of the gangster lifestyle. Take, for example, Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow, who, along with Senator Leland Yee and former president of the San Francisco Board of Education Keith Jackson, was pinched yesterday by the FBI on charges of corruption and other mischief. Once the kingpin to the Hop Sing Boys in America, as well as a tertiary involvement in the Golden Dragon Massacre of 1977, Chow famously, allegedly changed his ways.

The History Channel even dedicated an episode of Gangland to Shrimp Boy's life. As SFGate notes: "The episode, which aired on March 20, 2008, tells charming stories like the time Chow claims he shot a classmate at Galileo High 'in the ass' and a stint in San Quentin where he made friends with Charles Manson ('I did time with a bunch of amazing people')."

Behold:

Chow now stands accused of money laundering, theft, "and generally overseeing a large criminal operation for years."

Previously: Oh No, Leland Yee: He Wore A Windbreaker
Criminal Complaint Alleges Leland Yee Used Campaign Money In Arms Deal
Oh No, Leland Yee: 'Shrimp Boy' Arrested, Jaws Of Life Brought In
Oh No, Leland Yee: Arrested!

[SFGate]

Law enforcement in Richmond, Calif. have found a new way to keep a tab on gang violence happening in their city: on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Like everyone else, it seems gang members like to boast about their successes on social media. Their moments of pride, sadly, just happened to be homicides.

In a new report on the practice that law enforcement officers are calling "Cyberbanging," a Richmond detective on the gang detail tells the Contra Costa Times just how obvious gang members can be with the clues:

"We have seen situations where someone will commit a shooting or a homicide, and they'll immediately write something on social media," said Matt Anderson, a Richmond gang detective. "'Man down,' 'scoreboard,' those are the kinds of phrases they'll use, and it gives us a lot of clues about what just happened."

The CoCo Times likens the rise in social media to gang graffiti and old-school street corner braggadocio, but the trail of evidence left by social media is much more useful for making an arrest. In a 2012 gang murder trial, the 23-year-old suspect Joe Blacknell was successfully convicted after the deputy district attorney presented Myspace photos of Blacknell holding an AK-47 and private messages about the deceased victim to the jury. In San Jose, a deputy district attorney who works with the Santa Clara county gang unit says more than half of the country's gang trials involve some evidence gleaned from social media.

Although Facebook and Myspace have been revealed evidence in the past, Instagram is, it seems, the current platform of choice for Bay Area gang members. According to Richmond Detective Matt Anderson, who says he spends more time on social media than an average teenager, Instagram poses a challenge since it allows for more anonymity and the messages are more coded. YouTube, likewise, has been flooded with amateur music videos that double as gang signs, threats, and homicide boasting.

On a related (and more humorous) note, a couple of small-time thieves were arrested outside of Sacramento in 2013 after they posed for an Instagram photo with $120 in Carl's Jr. they purchased with a stolen credit card.

[CoCoTimes]

Jacob Valdiviezo, 19, was walking in front of his home at Bryant near 24th Street early Saturday morning when he was shot and killed after apparently being mistaken for a gang member.

ABC 7 reports:

Neighbor Luis Salinas says he was coming home from a nightclub when he saw a car pull over in front of 2617 Bryant and a man get out.

"There were two guys walking this way,"" Salinas said. "But he only went for one person only, so he just let it roll. He shot em, shot em, shot em, shot em, and took off and that was it."

ABC 7 goes on to note that Valdiviezo graduated with honors from Archbishop Riordan High School and was currently a sophomore at Lewis and Clark University in Portland, Oregon where he was a wide receiver.

The suspects are, of course, still at large. The only description we have so far is that "the shooter got into a grey 4-door sedan after riddling Valdiviezo with bullets.

Video report below:

Information about the suspects should be sent to SFPD anonymously at 415-575-4444 or text-a-tip to TIP411 with SFPD in the beginning of the message. You can also contact Homicide Division at 415-553-1145.