Felon accused of shooting at SFPD cops during escape loses audacious bail bid in federal court, as it emerges warrant blunder left him free for years
A felon accused of opening fire on San Francisco police officers lost an audacious bail bid today – as it emerged SFPD’s failure to secure a warrant despite clear evidence left him free to commit armed crime around the Bay Area, and to be shot himself in an attack that killed an associate.
Prosecutors say Ilex Velasquez fired at officers as he fled police investigating a spate of catalytic converter thefts in January 2023.
Velasquez was ordered released by U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler last week, after six months in custody, despite an immigration detainer, prompting government attorneys to immediately ask U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer to overturn the decision.
“Given all his conduct in the past, and he constituted in my view a substantial danger to the community, including police officers…I’m not comfortable at this point [releasing him],” said Judge Breyer this morning.
It emerged that, although SFPD had clear evidence identifying Velasquez as the shooter, they did not obtain a warrant. Consequently they missed several chances to arrest him as he went on to commit armed crimes around the Bay Area and be repeatedly released. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms ultimately obtained a warrant citing precisely the same evidence.
Ilex Velasquez fled a traffic stop in the small hours of January 17 2023. Officers were anxious to speak with him about catalytic converter thefts in the city’s Inner Richmond and Laurel Heights neighborhoods.
He drove off at high speed in a stolen Audi SUV but abandoned it a short time later on Geary Boulevard. Velasquez and two passengers decamped and ran in different directions. While being chased on foot by police, Velasquez turned and fired four to five shots in their direction.
He then broke into the Institute on Aging on Geary Boulevard and escaped through the back of the building. Police later found a Smith and Wesson .38 special revolver in the middle of Stanyan Street.
Investigators honed in on Velasquez through fingerprints on the car and DNA analysis of the revolver both of which pointed to him. Police in San Rafael also told SFPD they recognized him.
Despite this evidence no warrant was secured and Velasquez continued to rack up arrests without being taken to San Francisco or judges even learning that he was the prime suspect. Federal law enforcement later used that evidence to secure a warrant and initiate a federal prosecution.
His next arrest came on June 20 2023, when Oakland PD noticed an illegally-parked Audi on the 2000 block of 90th Avenue. Velasquez was apprehended nearby and found with a Smith & Wesson .40 caliber compact handgun and ammunition. Two weeks later he was released by trusting Alameda Judge Kimberly Colwell and shortly afterwards he jumped bail and was in the wind for a year.
On July 19 2024, Velasquez was arrested again while trying to steal a catalytic converter in Berkeley. Outraged residents of one home tried to intervene only for Velasquez to throw a car jack at them. Police found a bullet and burglary tools in the stolen Audi he and an accomplice were driving.
A check by Berkeley PD turned up warrants in Alameda, Napa and Kern Counties – but not San Francisco. He was sentenced to probation and time served in both cases in December 2024.
He was then dealt with in Napa County for his outstanding case there and released. By November 2025 an Alameda County judge agreed to transfer his probation to where he was living in Contra Costa County.
His year between Alameda arrests was eventful: he was shot in the shoulder in a December 2023 attack in Alameda County in which an associate was killed. No suspect has yet been charged.
On January 24 2026 SFPD officers responded to another incident in which an Audi suspected of involvement in catalytic converter thefts fled from police. Although the driver got away, the captured passenger did have Velasquez’s passport on him.
With police appreciating they had a suspect and a mountain of evidence, he was indicted by a federal grand jury four days later and then arrested at a home in Oakland on February 18 2026 where SFPD found a stolen rifle he subsequently admitted was his.
Initially denied bail, he took a second bite at the cherry earlier this month when he petitioned Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler for release, claiming he had been sober for six months in jail and had a new ‘surety’ who would keep him on the straight and narrow.
Beeler ordered his release last week but stayed the ruling pending a government appeal to Judge Breyer.
Today in courtroom 6 of San Francisco Federal Courthouse Judge Breyer expressed skepticism over defense attorneys’ bid to have Velasquez released now – but left the door open to a lenient disposition when the case is finally resolved.
“I do realize in large part the conduct that I was concerned about occurred three years ago nevertheless, as I understand it, at the time of his apprehension in 2026 there was a weapon in his possession – it is the allegation,” said the judge.
“I’m concerned that people who carry guns, whether they do so for aggressive or defensive means, put everyone at risk – put the entire community at risk,” he added.
Breyer revoked the magistrate judge’s release order. While Velasquez has pleaded not guilty to two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm, the court was told he anticipates returning to court in the next few months to change his plea. The judge was not persuaded that Velasquez’s six months of sobriety in jail constituted a changed circumstance sufficient to release him, but did obliquely herald the prospect of his timely release at a future sentencing hearing.
The case continues.
Main image: the suspect escaping on January 17 2023 (l), Velasquez (r) and revolver (inset)
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