Posted on 06/23/2006 1:02:58 PM PDT by SmithL
OAKLAND, Calif. - An alleged pimp who evaded capture on murder charges by stealing a U.S. Marshals Service van during his eight months as a fugitive was unarmed when he was shot and killed by police, authorities said.
Kim Saelio, 22, who went by the names "Mr. T." and "Tim-Tim," appeared to be reaching into his waistband for a gun when officers fatally shot him Wednesday in Oakland, police Lt. Ersie Joyner III said Thursday.
Saelio had crashed an SUV into parked cars after a short police chase, and refused repeated requests to surrender, Joyner said.
But Saelio's family members said he never carried a gun and that officers should have allowed him more time to give up peacefully.
"Why didn't the police just catch him and lock him up?", said his brother, Nai Saelio, 33. "At least my parents could go visit him."
Family members had tried to persuade Saelio to surrender on previous occasions, but he said he mistrusted police and the attempts failed, Nai Saelio said.
Kim Saelio was wanted on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder and other charges for the Nov. 10 killing of Curtis Mack Allen, 35, in Vallejo. The case appeared on the "America's Most Wanted" television show in March.
Saelio and suspected gunman Mark D. Sanders, 33, of Oakland were accused of ambushing Allen in a botched robbery to recover money owed to one of Saelio's prostitutes, police said.
Sanders and two women were arrested.
But Saelio eluded authorities on at least three occasions, including a May raid on a Dublin bowling alley where he escaped by swiping a rented U.S. Marshals Service van parked outside.
As a local radio host once (and many time's I've repeated), do what the fella's with the guns say to do.
I'm going to guess the *pimp* wasn't being ordered to 'reach into his pants' as a starter.
Yeah...right...
SO????
Sucks to be a thug, eh?
Bummer. /s
But it turned out Saelio, 22, had no gun or other weapon inside the SUV when he was shot about 7:40 p.m. in the 1300 block of East 32nd Street after a police chase.
On Thursday, his family questioned why he was shot if he was unarmed.
"They didn't have to shoot him
like that," said Saelio's 33-year-old brother, Nai. "They didn't give him a chance. What (police) did was wrong."
Nai Saelio said his parents, who moved to Oakland from Thailand in the 1980s, had another son who was slain during a home-invasion robbery several years ago.
"Why didn't the police just catch him and lock him up? At least my parents could go visit him," Nai Saelio said of his younger brother, who had eluded police repeatedly during the past several months, earning himself a spot on TV's "America's Most Wanted" show.
Homicide Lt. Ersie Joyner III said even before Wednesday, Oakland and Vallejo police and other law enforcement agencies had made several attempts to contact Saelio and close family and friends to request he surrender.
On Wednesday night, police gave him "several more chances to surrender, but when they thought he was reaching for a gun, they fired in defense of their lives and other officers," Joyner said.
Police said that moments before the shooting, Saelio had been dropped off on the block by some friends. When he saw police moving in, he got into a Ford Explorer and tried to drive off.
The SUV was rammed to a stop by authorities, and it hit some parked cars.
Investigators said Oakland Special Operations Group Sgt. Randy Wingate and state Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement Special Agent Carl Estelle, a former Oakland officer, approached Saelio on the driver's side, yelling for him to surrender and show his hands.
Sgt. Tony Jones said the officers were especially on guard because of the crimes Saelio had been accused of and because he had eluded officers in the past.
Joyner said Saelio had been arrested before with guns. Police had information from street sources who said he always had a gun with him.
But Nai Saelio insisted Thursday that his brother never carried a gun. He said he had encouraged Saelio — a reputed pimp known on the street as "Tim Tim" — to turn himself in to police after he was accused of being involved in the Vallejo homicide, but he mistrusted police and refused.
"He say he would live his life day by day until they catch him," Saelio said.
Police said that when it appeared Saelio was reaching for a gun in his waistband, Wingate and Estelle each fired one shot at him, Joyner said.
Other officers on the scene started first-aid efforts, which were taken over by paramedics. Saelio was taken to Highland Hospital in Oakland, where he died at 8:15 p.m.
Saelio had been spotted earlier in the day in a car with at least three people, and officers had the car under surveillance. They lost track of it a few times and were not always sure he was in the vehicle.
The people who had dropped Saelio off were detained later but released after questioning.
Saelio had been sought for his role in the Nov. 10 shooting death of Curtis Mack Allen, 35, who was slain in his Vallejo home in an attempted robbery.
Oakland Tribune: http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/ci_3971275
GreenAccord wrote:
"I'm going to guess the *pimp* wasn't being ordered to 'reach into his pants' as a starter."
--Was he gonna crank start his pistol? hehe I guess he was "inadequately " prepared for the gunfight.
Aw. Darn.
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