SAN FRANCISCO -- The parents of a San Francisco woman who was fatally shot by a man in the country illegally said Tuesday that federal and local authorities contributed to the death of their daughter through negligence and bureaucratic bungling.
The family alleges in legal claims that a Bureau of Land Management ranger left his loaded service weapon in a backpack in plain view in his car before the gun was stolen in June.
The semi-automatic pistol was later used in the July 1 killing of 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle.
Bureau of Land Management spokesman Martha Maciel said the agency is cooperating with the investigation of the shooting, but she declined to make further comment.
The shooting of Steinle triggered a national debate over immigration after it was revealed that the sheriff's office had released Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez despite a federal request to detain him for possible deportation.
Lopez-Sanchez was previously deported five times to his native Mexico.
The Steinle family and their attorneys filed three separate legal claims seeking unspecified damages from the Bureau of Land Management, the San Francisco sheriff's office and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Such claims must be filed before government agencies can be sued. San Francisco officials have 60 days to decide on the claim. Federal authorities have a six-month deadline.
The family said it will file lawsuits if the claims are denied.
Similar lawsuits alleging that so-called sanctuary city policies contributed to killings by illegal migrants have failed, including a case in San Francisco.
Courts previously threw out a wrongful-death lawsuit filed against the city for failing to turn over a gang member, in the country illegally, before he gunned down a father and his two sons. A state appeals court said the sanctuary policy was not intended to prevent violent crime.
Steinle's parents said they filed the legal claims to prevent another tragedy.
"We're here not only for Kate; we're here for every citizen of this country who comes to San Francisco," Jim Steinle said at a news conference at City Hall. "If you think this can't happen to you, think again."
Lopez-Sanchez, 45, has pleaded innocent to a murder charge. He told police that he fired the fatal shot accidentally while examining the ranger's gun after finding it under a bench on Pier 14.
Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi has said his office was following city law when it released Lopez-Sanchez in April after prosecutors dropped marijuana-possession charges.
San Francisco and other cities and counties across the state have enacted sanctuary policies of ignoring so-called detainer requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement to hold inmates thought to be in the country illegally.
The Steinle family claimed the sheriff violated federal laws when he issued a memo in March barring the jail staff from communicating with federal immigration officials about detainer requests.
The family also accused Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an agency within the Homeland Security Department, of failing to obtain a warrant or judicial notice required by San Francisco to detain and deport Lopez-Sanchez.
A Section on 09/02/2015