Following Monday's double-homicide of two alleged Towerside gang members in Visitacion Valley, another man was killed and one other injured Tuesday night nearby in the Portola district, on the 3000 block of San Bruno Avenue. 26-year-old Edmundo Sandoval was shot and pronounced dead at the scene, and his 53-year-old uncle suffered life threatening injuries. Witnesses say there were three suspects, two shooters and a driver, who fled in a white, four-door car. Police are not yet saying whether this shooting was gang-related.

This incident follows on seven separate fatal shootings in Visitacion Valley since May, including the two men killed on Monday afternoon. In a separate incident Monday night, an SUV pulled around a woman who was driving near Sunnydale Avenue and Rey Street and opened fire on a group of people standing on the sidewalk. They missed the people, injuring no one, but a woman hit the car of the woman who was just driving by.

Sandoval's murder marks the 45th in San Francisco this year.

The Towerside Gang, which controls turf around the Heritage Homes and Britton Courts public housing developments, has been in a long-standing war with the Down Below Gangsters, who control the adjacent Sunnydale Public Housing Development. City Attorney Dennis Herrera obtained a gang injunction in 2010 against both Visitacion Valley gangs, establishing a safety zone around the projects in which alleged gang members are prevented from associating with each other, loitering, flashing gang signs, congregating, carrying weapons, and an array of other things. 41 people identified as Towerside or DBG members were served copies of the court order at the time, and this was in response to a string of ten homicides in the area between 2007 and 2010. This latest uptick, obviously, is troubling.

Anyone with any information about this latest murder are asked to call the SFPD anonymous tip line at 415- 575-4444 or send a tip via text message to TIP411.

Update: The Chron is now reporting that the shootings have been the result of infighting within the two gangs, as opposed to an uptick in the rivalry between the gangs. The Examiner keeps it more vague, and notes that police chief Greg Suhr did not go into great detail about the motives. Also, an earlier report stated that Edmundo Sandoval was 46, but he was in fact 26, and the other person injured in Tuesday's shooting was his 53-year-old uncle.

[BCN/Appeal]
[Chron]