This morning, San Francisco police arrested Lee Farley, 27, charging him with four counts of murder in a January 2015 drive-by shooting in Hayes Valley. Farley is a San Francisco resident currently serving time in a high-security federal prison in Atwater, CA, where he was taken into custody.
At approximately 10pm on January 9, 2015, Yalani Chinyamurindi, 19, Harith Atchan, 21, David Saucier, 20, and Manuel O’Neal, 22, were sitting inside a 2005 Honda double-parked near Page and Laguna when another vehicle raked their car with more than 15 rounds of bullets before speeding away. Each victim was shot multiple times and succumbed to their injuries at the scene.
A memorial posted at Laguna/Page in #SF after last night's Hayes Valley quadruple homicide @SFGate pic.twitter.com/XYbVzdRk5L
— Jessica Christian (@jachristian) January 10, 2015
According to an SFPD statement, homicide investigators have been "following leads and gathering evidence" since the incident. They received assistance from specialized SFPD teams that study forensics, track fugitives and study gang activity, along with "other local and federal partner agencies." Eventually, they were able to develop leads that gave them probable cause to arrest Farley, who was booked into county jail.
Details released in the early phase of the investigation suggest that the shooting was perpetrated by members of a gang called Mac Block, allegedly part of an informal criminal syndicate called "Uptown." The Uptown crew reportedly includes the Central Divis Playas, a gang that has been investigated by federal officials for sex trafficking and illegal marijuana sales.
Farley has been charged with four counts each of murder and shooting into an inhabited vehicle, along with possession of a firearm by a convicted narcotics offender and participation in a criminal street gang. We weren't able to determine why he was already incarcerated at the time of his arrest, but according to a federal inmate locator database, he's not due to be released until 2020.
Acting San Francisco Chief of Police Toney Chaplin, who led the homicide detail when the murders occurred, said the arrest fulfilled a promise he made to the victims' families "that the San Francisco Police Department would do everything we could to solve this brutal crime."
Although police explored a number of early leads, Farley is the first person to be charged in the case, and investigators are continuing to gather evidence. Witnesses and tipsters are encouraged to call SFPD's homicide detail at 415-553-1143, call the anonymous tip line at 415-575-4444, or text details to TIP411 (start the text with "SFPD").
