Parents of woman killed in San Francisco sue city, feds

SAN FRANCISCO — The parents of a woman killed on a San Francisco pier have sued the city and two federal agencies, accusing them of contributing to her death because the man charged in the slaying was in the country illegally.

Kate Steinle’s parents filed the wrongful death lawsuit Friday, accusing the Sheriff’s Department of failing to notify federal immigration officials that it was releasing Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez from jail.

They also are suing Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. A BLM ranger reported that a gun was stolen from his car while it was parked in downtown San Francisco.

Lopez-Sanchez said he found the gun and it fired when he picked it up, striking Steinle, 32, in the back. He has pleaded not guilty to a second-degree murder charge.

Steinle’s shooting death in July thrust San Francisco into the national debate over immigration.

Lopez-Sanchez was transferred to the city jail to face a marijuana sales charge after he completed a nearly four-year federal prison sentence for illegal re-entry into the country in March. The district attorney dropped charges and the sheriff’s department released Lopez-Sanchez, ignoring an ICE request to keep him behind bars.

San Francisco’s so-called “sanctuary policy,” which was tweaked and re-affirmed last week, bars city employees from cooperating with federal immigration officials in deportation efforts. The law dates to 1989.

The sheriff at the time cited the law in defending the release of Lopez-Sanchez, a repeat drug offender and habitual border crosser.