SFPD says arrests in murders dating back to 2002 are biggest cold case break in department's history
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- San Francisco police say they've made two arrests in what they're calling the biggest cold case break in the department's history.
It's a cold case that has loomed over San Francisco investigators for over two decades, dating back to the early 2000s.
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announced the arrest of 44-year-old Sauntek Harris and 48-year-old Shaun Britton, both charged in connection to multiple murders, including fatal shootings in 2002 and 2019.
"It's really about working with our law enforcement partners on the ground and making sure they are using every avenue available to them to try to solve these cases and put cases together," DA Jenkins said. "Oftentimes we have witnesses who are reluctant but who have information, so we want to make sure that we do everything that we can to gather what we need to prove who committed these crimes."
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Jenkins says that this isn't the end of these cases, as they now look to prove the suspects guilty.
"We have to now make sure that we have all of the evidence put together in a way that we can present in front of both a judge and eventually a jury to make sure that an arrest isn't where this case stops," she said. "We make sure that in any case that we file that we can prove to a jury that someone is guilty of the crimes that we've charged them with."
Harris is charged with four counts of murder and Britton is charged with one count of murder. Both are also facing firearm street terrorism and street gang-related charges.
In 2019, San Francisco's Restorative Justice Ministry held one of the prayers for the victims of the shootings.
"There are no words that can express the pain this has caused," Julio Escobar, the Restorative Justice Ministry coordinator for SF Archdiocese, said. "They need to know that the community is with them in and out of this situation. Not just on the day that we went to do a prayer on the street, but going forward."
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Escobar says even the arrests don't take away the pain of the murders.
"It was not a natural death. Their life was interrupted by this type of violence so for that reason, healing never ends," he said.
Both suspects are currently in custody. The District Attorney's office confirmed they decided to detain them pending trial due to "the public safety risk they pose."
"My message to families is don't give up," DA Jenkins said. "Don't give up hope that one day there will be justice for you because our commitment for those of us who do this work is to make sure that we do everything that we can to provide that justice and under my watch at the DA's office we will make sure that we continue that."
The crimes took place in the city's Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood. The suspects are scheduled to be arraigned on June 6.
