2 guilty in deadly San Francisco 2019 Fillmore Heritage Center gang shooting
SAN FRANCISCO -- Two members of San Francisco's notorious Mac Block gang have been found guilty by a federal jury in the 2019 Fillmore Heritage Center shooting that left a man dead and several bystanders wounded.
Federal prosecutors said 28-year-old Robert Manning and 26-year-old Jamare Coats carried out the shooting for "maintaining and increasing their position in the Mac Block street gang."
Both defendants now face a mandatory sentences of life in prison for the murder charge.
Federal prosecutors said the gang operated in San Francisco's Western Addition and its members engaged in racketeering activity, including murder, attempted murder and robbery.
This trial focused on the March 23, 2019 murder of a man in front of the Fillmore Heritage Center and wounding of others gathered in front of the building.
At trial, government prosecutors submitted evidence that Manning and Coats, both of San Francisco, at the time possessed a firearm and ammunition illegally brought into the Bay Area from outside the state.
The prosecutors also demonstrated that Coats fired his pistol and committed murder in aid of racketeering activity, and that Manning aided and abetted the murder for an illegal gang-related purposes.
Ultimately at least 24 shots were fired into the crowed sidewalk in front of the Fillmore Heritage Center. Four innocent bystanders were struck by bullets. One of the bystanders remains paralyzed from the bullet wound he received in the shootout.