Last week Matt Gonzalez, attorney of alleged gunman Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, agreed with testimony that Lopez-Sanchez allegedly shot Kathryn Steinle but argued that it was the gun’s fault.
He suggested the gun went off without the trigger being pulled because it “has no safety.”
Steinle was shot and killed with a stolen handgun on July 1st, 2015, while walking on San Francisco’s Pier 14 with her father.
According to the Associated Press, Lopez-Sanchez’s defense to this point has been that he shot Steinle accidentally. The defense argued that Lopez-Sanchez found the gun wrapped in a t-shirt. He picked it up and it went off.
Prosecutor Diane Garcia countered this by suggesting that even if that were the case, Lopez-Sanchez “could have fired the gun anywhere, but he fired at Kate Steinle.” She accused him of “[playing] his own version of Russian roulette” with Steinle’s life.
Gonzalez responded by blaming the gun, a .40 caliber Sig Sauer that had been stolen from a federal agent who works for the Bureau of Land Management. He says the gun “has no safety” and claims “there is no evidence that [Lopez-Sanchez] put his finger in the trigger.”
It is interesting to note that Lopez-Sanchez reportedly told police at one point “that he was shooting at a seal or a black fish.” He would need to put his finger on the trigger and pull it to do that.
Gonzalez does not deny that Lopez-Sanchez shared this explanation with police. Rather, he suggests Lopez-Sanchez only did so as part of an “awkward effort by Lopez-Sanchez to explain the accidental shooting.”
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter: @AWRHawkins.
