Jail interview
In a jail interview Lopez admits he shot Steinle, but says the weapon — which he said he found lying on the ground wrapped in a T-shirt — went off by accident when he picked it up. At another points he says he could not recall details of the shooting because he’d taken sleeping medication. When asked where he got the gun:
In the ground. When the… when the… over there in the bench, um, um, I put my leg and I see the one T-shirt and then see over there something like that…Then suddenly I heard that boom boom, three times.
He says he returned to the United States after he was deported to find work in restaurants, or roofing, landscaping, and construction, and that he has worked on ranches in Arizona and helped stock stores in Portland, Oregon. He says he came to San Francisco because there were more opportunities and because officials there would not deport him. He also says he does not have a lawyer and plans to say he is guilty in court.
I want the courts to punish me as is deserved and for this to end as soon as possible.
Parents speak on SF policy
Steinle’s parents say that while they respect the immigration sanctuary laws of SF, their daughter wouldn’t have been killed by Sanchez if ICE had been complied with.
We’re here for kate and I think I can speak for my wife when I say its a non issue…It would have been so much better if he were gone and they would have done what they should have done, absolutely, without a guess definitely but that’s not how it is.
Deported five times, seven felony convictions
ICE says Sanchez has seven felony convictions and has been deported five times, most recently in 2009. Four of those convictions involved narcotics charges. They also say they had requested San Francisco to detain him in march, but the Sheriff’s Department released him.
Cites SF death
Trump says Steinle’s murder by Sanchez, an undocumented immigrant and a repeat felon who had been deported five times to Mexico, shows that the border must be secured.
This senseless and totally preventable act of violence committed by an illegal immigrant is yet another example of why we must secure our border immediately. This is an absolutely disgraceful situation and I am the only one that can fix it. Nobody else has the guts to even talk about it. That won’t happen if I become President. The American people deserve a wall to protect our jobs, economy and our safety. I am the only candidate who would build it.