SUSPECT IN PLAYSTATION 4 KILLING PLEADS NOT GUILTY: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A San Francisco man has pleaded not guilty to fatally shooting another man who was trying to sell him a Sony PlayStation 4 gaming system.
Ronnie Collins entered his plea during his arraignment Monday in a San Francisco courtroom to murder and other charges including two counts of attempted robbery with firearm enhancement allegations.
Prosecutors say the 21-year-old Collins shot and killed 22-year-old Ikenna Uwakah of Daly City, inside the victim's car during the botched transaction near a park in San Francisco's Bayview District on Dec. 1.
Collins allegedly responded to an ad about the recently-released video game system Uwakah and his girlfriend had posted both on Instagram and Craigslist.
Collins remains in jail on $5 million bail and is due back in court on Jan. 3
SF POLICE LOOKING FOR ALLEGED PUPPY THIEF: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco police say they are on the lookout for a man who allegedly pepper-sprayed two homeless people before stealing their 6-week-old puppy near Buena Vista Park.
Officer Gordon Shyy says the victims were asleep in a van parked on Buena Vista Avenue West at about 6 a.m. Friday when someone began loudly knocking on the door.
The man told the victims that he was a police officer, Shyy says, but when they opened the door and asked to see his credentials, he pepper-sprayed them and grabbed the puppy.
The victims, a woman and a man, were temporarily blinded and didn't see where the man fled.
Police are also looking for the dog, which is an American pit bull and Rhodesian Ridgeback mix.
HUMAN SKULL FOUND AT SONOMA COUNTY PARK: WINDSOR (AP) — Sonoma County Sheriff's officials are scouring the site where human remains were discovered over the weekend.
Assistant Sheriff Lorenzo Duenas said deputies were back at Shiloh Regional Park in Windsor on Monday morning, a day after a man walking with his two children reported finding a skull and a tennis shoe in a creek bed there.
Deputies confirmed it was human. They also spotted other skeletal remains under leaves in the area.
Duenas says investigators will attempt to determine whether there was any foul play in addition to trying to identify the remains.
DEPUTY WHO SHOT TEEN RETURNING TO DUTY: SANTA ROSA (AP) — A California sheriff's deputy who shot a 13-year-old boy carrying a BB gun was expected to return to duty, though he will be assigned to a desk job until prosecutors decide whether to file criminal charges, authorities said.
Sonoma County Sheriff's Deputy Erick Gelhaus will begin the administrative assignment this week as the district attorney determines whether he committed criminal wrongdoing in the shooting of Andy Lopez.
Gelhaus has been off duty since shooting Andy seven times on Oct. 22 as the teen walked in a Santa Rosa neighborhood. Gelhaus told investigators he believed the BB gun carried by Lopez was an assault rifle.
The shooting led to numerous protests and threats against Gelhaus.
Gelhaus is returning to duty after undergoing mental health screening, Assistant Sheriff Lorenzo Duenas told the Press Democrat in a story published Friday.
Gelhaus was deemed fit for full duty but will not yet return to patrol, Duenas said.
Santa Rosa police and the FBI are investigating the shooting. Duenas said an internal Sheriff's Office review is also ongoing.
The deputy's return to duty upset people who have protested the shooting.
Michael Rothenberg, a member of the Andy Lopez Organizing Group, told the Press Democrat it was a slap in the face to the community. Protesters have said Gelhaus opened fire without ample warning and have demanded criminal charges against him.
"It shatters any hope for the time being that there's going to be justice," Rothenberg said of Gelhaus' return to duty.
Lopez's family has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit seeking damages.
