Post by Jack
San Francisco Police are trying to figure out who shot and killed a local Hells Angels leader outside a bar in the Mission District. Mark “Papa” Guardado was the president of the motorcycle club’s San Francisco chapter and he was killed less than a mile from the group’s clubhouse where he lived.
He was found shot about 10:45 p.m. and taken to San Francisco General Hospital where he died. Witnesses said they saw Guardado arguing with a man and that it turned into a wrestling match. The man shot Guardado and drove off on a motorcycle. Police are considering that a member of a rival club may be responsible for the shooting. The word on the street is the rival club are the Mongol’s. The Hells Angels and the Mongols have a long-standing feud. A clash between the groups in 2002 left three bikers dead and a dozen hurt.
In July, police and FBI agents raided the San Francisco Hells Angels clubhouse and arrested Guardado on suspicion of possessing illegal mushrooms, according to the Chronicle.
Guardado’s attorney, Patrick Ciocca, said, “He really was an all-around good guy. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of people who are going to miss him dearly.” Ciocca was unable to say how long Guardado had headed the local chapter. But he stressed that the Hells Angels had been unfairly harassed over the years by authorities who have raided the clubhouse in search of evidence that the group is a criminal enterprise.
Police have increased patrols in the Mission District neighborhood where the Hells Angels clubhouse is located at 23rd and Tennessee Street and will also step up patrols at Guardado’s funeral. Guardado’s murder was the second in the Mission District in two days.
Authorities say Michael Demetrescu Sr., 46, was found dead in 2005 in the sand dunes on Ocean Beach near the Great Highway and Kirkham and Lawton streets, a handgun by his side. He had been shot in the head. Police say they suspect Demetrescu committed suicide, but are awaiting the outcome of tests and a review of other evidence before making any conclusions. Demetrescu live at 1199 Tennessee in a house that abutted the Hell’s Angels Club House. He faced 40 years to life in prison if convicted of federal methamphetamine trafficking charges that had been lodged against him following the raids Thursday. The agents who conducted the raids said they had found a pound of methamphetamine in the garage of his home in the Dogpatch neighborhood.
Around 5:15 a.m. Monday, officers responded to the first block of San Carlos Street where 24-year-old Marcelino Canul-Castro was found lying on the ground with gunshot wounds, police said.
The San Francisco resident was taken to a hospital where he died.