A July 2021 sideshow produced a notorious image of a woman hanging out of the window of a Cadillac brandishing an AK-47. And now, after a two-year investigation, federal prosecutors have finally found and arrested the alleged driver.
It’s perhaps the most enduring image taken from any of the many sideshows we have covered over the last ten-plus years: At a July 11, 2021 sideshow at Barneveld and McKinnon Avenues in the Bayview District, a woman is seen hanging out the window of a stunt-driving beige Cadillac, proudly holding aloft an AK-47 amidst the mayhem.
On 7/11/2021, During an illegal exhibition of speed event at Barneveld & McKinnon, a passenger leaned out of a Cadi holding an AK47; see photo. SFPD Traffic Company personnel worked up a case, and seized this particular vehicle today. @SFPD @sfmta_muni @SFPDPerea pic.twitter.com/4disQpzziY
— SFPDTrafficSafety (@SFTrafficSafety) August 5, 2021
Sure, SFPD found and seized the Cadillac within a month. But more than two years passed, and no word on any suspects being the driver or the woman. Until now, as the Chronicle reported Monday night that federal prosecutors had identified and arrested the alleged driver, 26-year-old Christopher Gonzalez-Nuñez of Hayward. The arrest apparently took place earlier this month.
“Not only does the car match a vehicle that Gonzalez-Nuñez owned at the time, but Instagram users ‘tagged’ him in photos from the incident and mentioned him by name,” Deputy Attorney General Leif Dautch wrote in court filings related to the arrest, per the Chronicle. Prosecutors also say he (sigh) posted Instagram images of himself wearing the t-shirt.
That makes one wonder why the arrest took more than two years. But the sideshow is apparently not Gonzalez-Nuñez’s worst offense here. The feds’ investigation was a broader probe into his involvement with weapons and his alleged involvement with the Norteños street gang, and his possible involvement with the 2019 murder of 15-year-old Day’Von Hann.
An FBI search of Gonzalez-Nuñez’s home apparently turned up “three firearms, numerous high-capacity magazines, ammunition and gun assembly tools in his backpack and bedroom.” He’s in custody, though the feds have not detailed where. Still no word on the woman holding the AK-47, or whether she is considered a suspect.
Related: SFPD Seizes Cadillac Spotted During Sideshow With AK-47-Wielding Woman Hanging Out Window [SFist]
Image: @SFTrafficSafety via Twitter
