SF cold case bust: violent felon accused of botched 2015 gang reprisal which killed the wrong target and a bystander mom
A man accused of murdering two people in a botched retaliation for a gang killing – one of whom was not the intended target and the other a bystander mom inadvertently shot in the head – appeared in court today charged with the slayings after SFPD’s cold case unit reopened the investigation.
Prosecutors say that Anthony Tyree killed Donte Glenn and Maria Soza on January 27 2015 in San Francisco’s Hunters Point neighborhood. Police also suspect Tyree murdered gang rival Charles Williams two days before the double killing.
It appears officers were prompted to reexamine the case after Tyree completed a lengthy federal sentence received for a spate of violent jewelry store robberies in the months after the killings.
When he was arrested, police say, they found an assault rifle hidden in his bedroom.
At a brief hearing this afternoon in Department 10 of San Francisco Superior Court, Tyree agreed to postpone his arraignment to next month. His attorney, George Borges, told the court that this might have to be delayed further due to the considerable quantity of discovery in the case.
Tyree did not enter a plea to two counts of first degree murder and one of attempted murder.
In the afternoon of January 27 2015 two shooters in a black Dodge pickup truck overtook a black Infiniti FX35 on Ingalls Street in San Francisco’s Hunters Point district. The right front and right rear passengers in the pickup opened fire on the occupants of the other car – leaving the Infiniti’s front passenger, Donte Glenn, dead from multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and the driver grievously wounded.
Maria Soza, a mom standing outside her home with three young children near the site of the attack, was hit in the head by a stray bullet and immediately killed.
SFPD’s initial investigation led them to suspect that Tyree was one of the shooters – and that he had, in fact, mistaken Donte Glenn for another man whom he believed had been shooting at members of his gang.
Astonishingly, cops turned up evidence that Tyree boasted of murdering Charles Williams, in an apparently gang-related dispute, two days before the double killing. This information was later corroborated, say police, by another confidential informant.
Months after the killing, Tyree was arrested traveling back to the Bay Area after violently robbing jewelry stores in Denver. He was convicted in federal court and given a 12-year prison term.
Investigators secured approval from a judge to use results of search warrants obtained in the Charles Williams murder probe – plus phone data obtained as part of the Colorado robbery case – in their review of the double murder. This, say police, showed that Tyree was in the vicinity of the killings. Police also obtained recordings of what are claimed to be incriminating phone calls made by Tyree while he was in federal custody.
“After reviewing over 7,000 historical MMS text messages from Denver Police Sgt Eric Zenke’s phone dump,” wrote SFPD Investigator John Burke in an application for an arrest warrant, “I was convinced beyond any reasonable doubt, that Anthony Tyree was one of the two shooters involved in the double murder, and that he was the shooter who used a .45 caliber pistol.”
It emerged today that police suspect Tyree sold the gun used in the attack – a Firestar .45 – to Ivory Bivens. Bivens is presently awaiting trial in Alameda County for the murder of 23-month-old Jasper Wu during a car-to-car gun battle on the 880 freeway in Oakland in November 2021.
This afternoon Tyree appeared before Superior Court Judge Gerardo Sandoval. He spoke only once – replying “yes” to his attorney’s question about whether he would agree to delay his arraignment.
“The defendant is going to be held without bail, that will be set without prejudice, and he is ordered to appear in Department 19 for arraignment on September 24,” said Sandoval.
Prosecutor Dane Reinstedt earlier drew Sandoval’s attention to several members of Maria Soza’s family who were present at the hearing via Zoom videoconference.
Please support our work by using this Paypal link
To be notified of new stories enter your email address here or follow us on X
