Pacifica man pleads not guilty in pair of slayings
The Pacifica man accused of killing a towtruck driver and a taxi driver at the same remote location on consecutive days entered a notguilty plea on Monday and told a court commissioner he wants to represent himself.
Malik Dosouqi, 26, appeared in court in Redwood City wearing a red jumpsuit and standing behind a glass pane as he spoke to his attorney, George Borges. Borges entered his client’s plea, made the request for selfrepresentation and declined to waive a requirement that Dosouqi’s preliminary hearing be held within 10 days of entering a plea.
Commissioner Renee Reyna scheduled a hearing on Dosouqi’s request to represent himself for July 17 with the preliminary hearing set for the next day. Defendants have the right to represent themselves in a trial but a hearing is required to ensure they’re making an informed decision.
Prosecutors have charged Dosouqi with two counts of murder, including special enhancements for using a knife and multiple murder counts. If he is convicted of firstdegree murder with the enhancements, prosecutors could seek the death penalty.
They believe Dosouqi lured his victims to a rural area on Skyline Boulevard — calling for a taxi and for a tow truck — on consecutive days. Chief Deputy District Attorney Al Serrato said prosecutors are still investigating the relationship between the two victims as well as any connection with Dosouqi.
About 20 friends and relatives of the victims packed the courtroom. They appeared confused and angry during the 15minute hearing, grumbling as Borges expressed his client’s wishes to the court. As they filed out of the courtroom after the hearing, one man shouted: “I hope you die.”
Mission District shooting
A 15yearold boy was killed in a fatal shooting early Monday on 24th Street in San Francisco in an incident that left many Mission District residents uneasy.
Police responded to a ShotSpotter activation near 24th and Capp streets around 12:10 a.m. and saw a car leaving the scene. Officers pursued the car but it got away, police said. Officers found Day’von Hann suffering from gunshot wounds in the 3200 block of 24th Street, less than a block away from the scene. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Tita Guzman, who owns Tita’s Hair Salon on 24th Street, saw police tape surrounding her store Monday morning. She’s lived in the Mission District for 40 years, but said walking the streets is going to be a little scarier now. She pointed at her storefront window, shattered by a bullet.
“I was shocked when I saw it this morning. There was a hole this big,” Guzman said as she joined her hands to make a tennisball sized frame.
Her son placed a slab of plywood in front of the bullet hole. A few feet away was Lily Honore, a San Francisco native who lives a couple blocks from where the shooting took place.
Honore was walking back home from a friends house on Alabama Street when she heard loud bangs, she said.
“I heard the shots,” Honore said. “It was a few blocks away.”
Ryan Marchand, resident of the Mission District for 6 years, also lives a few blocks away from the shooting. The roaring pops kept him awake too, but he initially didn’t even know what he was hearing.
“I was in my living room, and I heard it, but since it’s so close to the 4th of July... it sounded like a lot of fireworks,” Marchand said. “It sounded like there was about four, and then a brief pause, and then probably about four or five more after that.”
It wasn’t until he read the news Monday morning that he realized the cause of the loud booms keeping him awake.
“It’s unfortunate and sad that it happened,” Marchand said.
The shooting remains under investigation.
Two houses burn
Firefighters with the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District were called to combat a fire that burned two adjacent houses in Pleasant Hill on Sunday.
No civilian injuries were reported in connection with the blazes, but one firefighter did sustain “a pretty serious ankle injury” and was taken to a hospital, said Tracie Dutton√, a captain with the fire district.
Firefighters responded to a singlefamily home burning on the 10 block of Old Rogers Ranch Court just after 5 p.m. The flames spread quickly, engulfing a nearby residence.
Dutton said firefighters contained the blaze to the two homes, but the fires continued to burn for roughly another hour — fueled by the houses’ natural gas lines.
Pacific Gas & Electric Co.’s initial efforts to shut off the buildings’ gas lines were thwarted by the fact that the gas meters had already burned off both houses. The company eventually arrived on the scene and shut down the gas lines, Dutton said.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.