July 11, 2015
Suspect Charged in Shooting Near SF Pride
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 2 MIN.
The teenager accused of shooting a man who had been attending this year's LGBT Pride celebration in San Francisco appeared in court this week to face charges that include attempted murder.
Joshua Spencer, 19, of San Francisco, is also charged with two counts of assault with a semiautomatic rifle and a count of intentional discharge of a firearm with great bodily injury.
Spencer is in custody and appeared in handcuffs Tuesday, July 7 before Superior Court Judge Edward Torpoco.
Assistant District Attorney Nathan Quigley said in court that video of the incident shows Spencer firing at one of the two victims. The victims are the man who was actually shot, and the person that Spencer had allegedly been firing at.
The gun was found in the same block as the shooting, Quigley said, and Spencer's "palm prints were found on the magazine of the gun."
Quigley also said video shows about 50 people at the scene of the Saturday, June 27 shooting, which happened in United Nations Plaza shortly after 6 p.m. as the nearby Pride festival was ending for the day.
A 64-year-old Pride spectator was shot once in the arm and transported to San Francisco General Hospital that night in stable condition. He was eventually released, according to police spokesman Carlos Manfredi.
Manfredi previously said that the situation was believed to have started when several groups of men, "unrelated to the Pride event," got into a verbal argument near or inside the venue.
"The incident escalated when one of the subjects pulled out a gun and fired several shots," Manfredi said.
He said in a news release that Spencer was arrested Thursday, July 2 in Vallejo after the San Francisco Police Department's Gang Task Force Unit followed investigative leads and identified him as the suspect.
Tuesday, Torpoco set Spencer's bail at $2.5 million, saying he was "concerned about the protection of the public."
According to Quigley, Spencer has "a prior wardship for assault with a stun gun," indicating that alleged incident occurred when Spencer was a juvenile.
Spencer didn't enter a plea Tuesday. The case was continued to Thursday, July 9.
Deputy Public Defender Yali Corea-Levy, who was appointed Tuesday to represent Spencer, wasn't available immediately after the hearing for comment.
Spencer declined the Bay Area Reporter 's request for an interview when a reporter visited San Francisco's County Jail #4 Monday, July 6.
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
