S.F. seizes 21 illegal weapons, arrests 4 in joint operation
Law enforcement officials in San Francisco arrested four people and seized 21 illegal weapons, high-capacity magazines and narcotics in a joint operation with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the agencies announced Monday.
The raids targeted firearms trafficking in a year that is shaping up to be “the worst year for gun violence in decades,” said Bill Scott, the city’s police chief, in a news release, noting that San Francisco “is no exception to the national trend.”
Two of the suspects, Kakada Mean and Ryan Chantha, were scheduled to be arraigned Monday.
Chantha has been charged with 28 violations: for illegal firearm sales, advertising high-capacity magazines, carrying a loaded firearm in public, carrying a concealed firearm, and being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.
Mean has been charged with three violations: for possession of narcotics while armed, possessing a controlled substance for sale, and for possessing a controlled substance “for sale or purchase.”
The other two suspects, Kelly Mean and John Sembrano, are scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 16.
Sembrano has been charged with 21 violations: for being a felon in possession of firearm and ammunition, being armed in possession of narcotics and possessing a controlled substance.
Kelly Mean has been charged with seven violations: for attempted sale of an illegal firearm, advertised sale of highcapacity magazines, being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.
According to the news release, the agencies — the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, police and federal officials — first identified social media accounts that listed guns for sale.
An investigation then located two homes of interest, one within the Bayview district precinct, and the other in the Southern District precinct, which includes Mission Bay.
On the morning of Nov. 16, federal officials joined police from the Crime Gun Investigations Center, the Community Violence Reduction Team and the police Narcotics Detail and raided both homes.
Officials seized 17 guns from the home in the Bayview district, and four from the home in the Southern District.
Several of the guns had been stolen, the agencies reported.
They also found narcotics, ammunition, high-capacity magazines, gun components and other “indicators of firearms trafficking,” they said.
Noting that weapons have become accessible to just about anyone, now that traffickers are advertising on social media, San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin said in the release that law enforcement is trying “to get guns off the streets before violence occurs.”
“We are committed to holding those who endanger our community by selling and illegally owning guns accountable,” he said.