Surviving Bologna son testifies in Ramos preliminary hearing
Bay City News

06/17/09 7:52 PM PDT SAN FRANCISCO — A San Francisco man whose fathers and two brothers were shot and killed in their car last year testified tearfully at a preliminary hearing today about the family's wordless encounter with the man accused of being the murderer.

Andrew Bologna took the stand in San Francisco Superior Court at the preliminary hearing of Edwin Ramos, 22, of El Sobrante, a suspected member of the Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13 street gang.

Ramos is accused of murdering Anthony "Tony" Bologna, 48, and his sons Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16, as they sat in their Honda Civic at an intersection near their home in the Excelsior District of San Francisco on the afternoon of Sunday, June 22, 2008.

Police have speculated the shooter may have mistaken the Bolognas for rival gang members.

Andrew Bologna was also in the car, sitting in the back seat behind his father, who was driving his three sons back from a family barbecue in Fairfield.

But he said he ducked down when he heard gunfire and escaped injury.

"I heard the shots first, that's when I ducked," he testified today.

Bologna said his father had backed up their Honda to allow a Chrysler 300M with tinted windows to make a left turn at an intersection.

He said "no words" were spoken as the Chrysler began to pass their car and a man, whom he identified as Ramos, brandished a chrome-plated gun from inside a partly opened window of the vehicle.

Bologna said he could see that his father, who had turned his head, had a facial expression that seemed to be saying, "Why would he be mugging us?"

Bologna said he then heard at least three gunshots.

Afterward, he said, "I was in the street going crazy, because I didn't know what was happening" to his fathers and brothers.

"It was like a movie," he said.

Anthony and Michael Bologna were pronounced dead at the scene. Matthew was taken to San Francisco General Hospital, where he died two days later.

The preliminary hearing is expected to last several more days, after which Superior Court Judge Teri Jackson will decide whether Ramos must stand trial on the murder charges.

Under cross-examination by defense attorney Marla Zamora, Bologna said he couldn't tell whether there was an additional person in the Chrysler.

Anthony Bologna was returning from the picnic to go to his night job as a manager at a supermarket in San Mateo, his son said.

In later testimony today, Assistant San Francisco Medical Examiner Venus Azar told the judge that Anthony Bologna died of a gunshot wound in the left arm and torso, Michael Bologna was killed by a gunshot wound in the back and Matthew Bologna died from multiple gunshot wounds, including two in the head.

Surviving family members also include Bologna's mother and sister, who returned separately from Fairfield and were not in the Honda during the shootings.

In April, the family members filed a civil lawsuit against the city of San Francisco in Superior Court for allegedly contributing to the deaths through its sanctuary policy.

The lawsuit alleges that Ramos, who was born in El Salvador, was in the country illegally and had a history of violence and several previous contacts with San Francisco police as a minor, but that the sanctuary policy kept police and juvenile probation officers from reporting him to federal immigration authorities for deportation.

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