Some fucked up shit.
Man arrested in buddy's shooting
He feared pal's testimony, cops say
Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer Friday, October 17, 2003
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24-year-old San Francisco man was arrested Thursday on charges of murdering his best friend from Sacred Heart High School, a killing that police believe was motivated by a belief that his friend was going to betray him and testify against him in a stabbing case.
Philip Sands is accused of killing Robert Ramirez, 24, of Daly City, who died in the deserted parking lot of San Francisco City College when someone sprayed the car in which he and a friend were sitting with 30 bullets just before 4 a.m. July 12.
"This is about a combination of two things -- anger for somebody testifying, and intertwined is a broken trust of a certain code of friendship, '' said homicide Inspector Dennis Maffei. " 'I stood up for you; now you can't stand up for me.' "
The son of a retired San Francisco sheriff's deputy, Sands was arrested at a cafe across from the Hall of Justice Thursday as he was having a cappuccino with his father and his lawyer, preparing for his testimony before a grand jury that was looking into the case. His attorney and his father, Leo Sands, did not return calls seeking comment.
"This is a huge weight that has been lifted off our family's shoulders, yet it is only the beginning of a long process, and we have to relive this whole thing over again,'' said Ramirez's uncle, James Crowley. "The reality is that Robert's friend, who we did not believe had any part in this killing, is now a suspect.''
Ramirez and Sands had known each other from St. Cecilia's parochial grammar school, and both were later in a group made up mainly of Sacred Heart students that called itself Sunset District Inc., or "the Bros." The group - which police called a gang but family members called an entourage -- was embroiled in a clash after a high school basketball game at Kezar Pavilion in 1999 that left a man seriously injured and Ramirez arrested.
Two years later, Sands was arrested in connection with the Sept. 14, 2001,
screwdriver stabbing of a man near Pacific Bell Park. Police reports suggest that Ramirez got into a fight with a man after making anti-Arab remarks, and Sands jumped into the fray on behalf of his friend.
Ramirez was on probation for his role in the Kezar beating, and authorities pressed him to testify during pretrial hearings for Sands or face potential jail time. Sands, Ramirez's lifelong friend, soon became his enemy, investigators say.
His uncle said Ramirez would never have taken the stand.
"Robert would not have testified against Philip,'' James Crowley said. "They knew each other since third grade.''
He said that when the Kezar case went to court, Ramirez "took the fall'' rather than testify against anyone.
Ramirez was killed one month before Sands was scheduled to have his preliminary hearing in the stabbing case. The hearing is still pending.
He was shot to death in the parking lot of City College at 3:49 a.m., where he and a friend had been left by the California Highway Patrol after the driver of a car in which they were riding was arrested for drunken driving.
Investigators think someone who knew Ramirez spotted him shortly before the arrest, when the car was stranded and out of gas on Interstate 280 nearby, and alerted Sands.
According to authorities, Ramirez had told his cousin, the driver of the car, that Sands or one of his friends may have been in the area that night. "I'm not afraid of anyone,'' Ramirez reportedly said.
He was shot and killed as he was waiting for his brother to pick him up after his cousin was arrested. The other passenger, Brendan Burke, the son of a San Francisco police officer, was hit with 17 rounds and is still recovering.
Police found what they think was the murder weapon at the home of a Sands relative. Authorities have not ruled out other arrests.
Investigators also are concerned that other witnesses in the stabbing case are being targeted for intimidation. One man had his house shot up in September but was not injured. Another man said a neighbor told him that Sands was waiting outside his house one day.
"The hard part in this,'' Maffei said, "was beating down'' the code of silence among Sands' friends, "who feel it is just not right to go to the police.''
"These are kids who have had a pretty good upbringing,'' he said. "The parents sacrificed and sent them to Catholic school. But this was a bad group. ''
Sands' father, was a sheriff's deputy until 1990, Maffei said. But his son "led two lives.''
He dropped out of Sacred Heart, developed a fascination with guns and associated with Tenderloin gangs, Maffei said.
"He leads a very dark, dark life," the homicide inspector said. "One thing that strikes me with him -- you never see him smile. I don't know what it is in his makeup. But you never see him smile.''
Last week, Sands' uncle died of a heart attack and his mother suffered one as well. She is recovering.
Crowley said Ramirez would have kept to the code, the same code that police say hampered their investigation in finding his killer.
"The code is that no one snitches," Crowley said. "People don't snitch on each other.''
E-mail Jaxon Van Derbeken at [email protected].
Man arrested in buddy's shooting
He feared pal's testimony, cops say
Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer Friday, October 17, 2003
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
24-year-old San Francisco man was arrested Thursday on charges of murdering his best friend from Sacred Heart High School, a killing that police believe was motivated by a belief that his friend was going to betray him and testify against him in a stabbing case.
Philip Sands is accused of killing Robert Ramirez, 24, of Daly City, who died in the deserted parking lot of San Francisco City College when someone sprayed the car in which he and a friend were sitting with 30 bullets just before 4 a.m. July 12.
"This is about a combination of two things -- anger for somebody testifying, and intertwined is a broken trust of a certain code of friendship, '' said homicide Inspector Dennis Maffei. " 'I stood up for you; now you can't stand up for me.' "
The son of a retired San Francisco sheriff's deputy, Sands was arrested at a cafe across from the Hall of Justice Thursday as he was having a cappuccino with his father and his lawyer, preparing for his testimony before a grand jury that was looking into the case. His attorney and his father, Leo Sands, did not return calls seeking comment.
"This is a huge weight that has been lifted off our family's shoulders, yet it is only the beginning of a long process, and we have to relive this whole thing over again,'' said Ramirez's uncle, James Crowley. "The reality is that Robert's friend, who we did not believe had any part in this killing, is now a suspect.''
Ramirez and Sands had known each other from St. Cecilia's parochial grammar school, and both were later in a group made up mainly of Sacred Heart students that called itself Sunset District Inc., or "the Bros." The group - which police called a gang but family members called an entourage -- was embroiled in a clash after a high school basketball game at Kezar Pavilion in 1999 that left a man seriously injured and Ramirez arrested.
Two years later, Sands was arrested in connection with the Sept. 14, 2001,
screwdriver stabbing of a man near Pacific Bell Park. Police reports suggest that Ramirez got into a fight with a man after making anti-Arab remarks, and Sands jumped into the fray on behalf of his friend.
Ramirez was on probation for his role in the Kezar beating, and authorities pressed him to testify during pretrial hearings for Sands or face potential jail time. Sands, Ramirez's lifelong friend, soon became his enemy, investigators say.
His uncle said Ramirez would never have taken the stand.
"Robert would not have testified against Philip,'' James Crowley said. "They knew each other since third grade.''
He said that when the Kezar case went to court, Ramirez "took the fall'' rather than testify against anyone.
Ramirez was killed one month before Sands was scheduled to have his preliminary hearing in the stabbing case. The hearing is still pending.
He was shot to death in the parking lot of City College at 3:49 a.m., where he and a friend had been left by the California Highway Patrol after the driver of a car in which they were riding was arrested for drunken driving.
Investigators think someone who knew Ramirez spotted him shortly before the arrest, when the car was stranded and out of gas on Interstate 280 nearby, and alerted Sands.
According to authorities, Ramirez had told his cousin, the driver of the car, that Sands or one of his friends may have been in the area that night. "I'm not afraid of anyone,'' Ramirez reportedly said.
He was shot and killed as he was waiting for his brother to pick him up after his cousin was arrested. The other passenger, Brendan Burke, the son of a San Francisco police officer, was hit with 17 rounds and is still recovering.
Police found what they think was the murder weapon at the home of a Sands relative. Authorities have not ruled out other arrests.
Investigators also are concerned that other witnesses in the stabbing case are being targeted for intimidation. One man had his house shot up in September but was not injured. Another man said a neighbor told him that Sands was waiting outside his house one day.
"The hard part in this,'' Maffei said, "was beating down'' the code of silence among Sands' friends, "who feel it is just not right to go to the police.''
"These are kids who have had a pretty good upbringing,'' he said. "The parents sacrificed and sent them to Catholic school. But this was a bad group. ''
Sands' father, was a sheriff's deputy until 1990, Maffei said. But his son "led two lives.''
He dropped out of Sacred Heart, developed a fascination with guns and associated with Tenderloin gangs, Maffei said.
"He leads a very dark, dark life," the homicide inspector said. "One thing that strikes me with him -- you never see him smile. I don't know what it is in his makeup. But you never see him smile.''
Last week, Sands' uncle died of a heart attack and his mother suffered one as well. She is recovering.
Crowley said Ramirez would have kept to the code, the same code that police say hampered their investigation in finding his killer.
"The code is that no one snitches," Crowley said. "People don't snitch on each other.''
E-mail Jaxon Van Derbeken at [email protected].
