Boy shot in foot outside service for Oakland teen killed by police
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

(03-25) 11:19 PDT OAKLAND -- A 13-year-old boy was shot in the foot outside a rosary service for a teenage boy killed by Oakland police after he allegedly pointed a sawed-off rifle at officers.

The 13-year-old was shot about 8:30 p.m. Monday outside St. Anthony's Church on the 1500 block of 16th Avenue in Oakland's San Antonio district. He was taken to Children's Hospital Oakland.

Police said the boy, whose name was not released, had been shot by one of several men who opened fire on a group outside the church, then fled. The assailants were believed to be gang members or affiliates upset that the mourners, many of them members of a rival gang, were in their territory, said police spokesman Officer Roland Holmgren.

The mourners were attending a rosary service for 15-year-old Jose Luis Buenrostro, who was shot and killed by three officers of the police gang unit Wednesday when he allegedly pointed a sawed-off rifle at them near 79th Avenue and Rudsdale Street in East Oakland.

Relatives of Buenrostro have questioned the officers' actions, saying they never knew the teenager to carry a gun.

At a news conference Friday, police took the unusual step of showing reporters a picture of the rifle that they said Buenrostro had been carrying. Authorities said Buenrostro had ties to a local street gang.

Monday's shooting was the second incident involving mourners for the boy. Early Sunday, police arrested two men at a makeshift memorial for Buenrostro on suspicion of weapons violations.

Officers said Marco Mendez, 32, had been holding a loaded AR-15 assault rifle and that Andre Piazza, 26, had a loaded AK-47 assault rifle with a high-capacity magazine in his car.

E-mail Henry K. Lee at hlee@sfchronicle.com.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... VVQ5C3.DTL