Arrest made in fatal beating of SF store clerk with bat during summer robbery, police say
SAN FRANCISCO -- A 21-year-old man has been arrested and charged with murder for a fatal baseball bat attack on a clerk at a market in San Francisco's Richmond District in August, police and prosecutors announced Thursday.
Santos De La Rosa, a resident of Hollister, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of the Aug. 24 attack at Richmond Market at 3950 Balboa St. that killed Yohannes "John" Tewolde, who worked as a clerk there.
A criminal complaint filed by the San Francisco District Attorney's Office alleges that De La Rosa was trying to steal two cans of beer and hit Tewolde with a bat when he tried to stop him.
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After the beating, De La Rosa allegedly retrieved one of the beers, threw the bat at a second person inside the store and then ran into the passenger side of a waiting vehicle that fled west on Balboa Street, prosecutors said.
Tewolde was taken to a hospital but succumbed to his injuries days later.
Police eventually identified De La Rosa as the suspect in the beating and arrested him Wednesday in Hollister. He has been charged with murder, second-degree robbery and assault with a deadly weapon and is set to be arraigned Friday, prosecutors said.
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Supervisor Connie Chan, who represents the Richmond District, thanked San Francisco police for taking a suspect into custody in the case.
"No matter the outcome, it will not bring back Yohannes 'John' Tewolde. But with this case in the hands of our law enforcement agencies, and through the criminal justice system, I hope there will be some closure for the Tewolde family and our Richmond District community," Chan said in a statement.
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