Assassination of William Cann
| Assassination of William Cann | |
|---|---|
| Location | Our Lady of the Rosary Church second-degree murder ) |
The assassination of
Death of Alberto Terrones
Alberto Terrones was born in Los Angeles on April 10, 1944, to a mother with the surname Alvarado.[3][4] His Social Security number was issued in California.[4] An Albert Terrones married in Alameda in 1964; he was 19, she was 16.[5] He may have fathered a son born 1965.[6] Terrones had past arrests in Union City, Hayward, San Jose and Oakland.[2] He had just turned 30 years old when he was killed on April 19, 1974.[4][7]
After allegedly stealing three canned hams from a grocery store, Terrones departed the store via bicycle.[2] He reportedly brandished a knife at both clerks at the Lucky supermarket and Union City patrolman John Miner when he arrived to take the theft report.[2] Miner radioed in that Terrones looked like the artist's sketch of an unidentified man who had stabbed two children in a new subdivision earlier that year.[2] (On June 25, 1974, the children's mother confessed to killing her daughter and stabbing her son and making up the story about a crazed Latino randomly breaking into their house and stabbing the children.)[8] Miner told Terrones to drop the knife or he'd shoot; Terrones continued advancing; Miner shot him in the flank with his .357 service weapon.[2] Per Timothy Swenson's Assassination in Decoto, residents of a neighboring trailer park reported that they heard Miner identify himself as a cop and also heard what would be the fatal shot.[2] Miner provided first aid and called an ambulance but Terrones died of his wounds later that evening.[2] The Union City PD, city government, local district attorney, and an Alameda County grand jury all found that Miner's shooting of Terrones was justifiable homicide.[2]
Sniper attack on community meeting
William Cann (December 15, 1941 – August 29, 1974) was born in New York and educated in California.[2] After working for the San Anselmo, Novato, and San Bruno police departments in Northern California, he joined the Union City Police Department as chief of police on March 5, 1973.[2] He was married and was the father of three young children, two sons and a daughter.[9] Cann was 32 years old at the time of his murder.[2]
After a small local riot in late April and at least one graffitied death threat against cops in the wake of the Terrones incident,[8] Cann set up a community meeting in a hall of Our Lady of the Rosary Church at 703 C St in Union City.[8] About 55 people were in attendance, including the parish priest.[8] Cann arrived in plainclothes and stood up to speak to the group. At 9:30 p.m. shots rang out.[2] The bullets came from outside, through a window. Cann was struck in the neck by two 30-caliber rifle bullets.[10] The shooter continued firing after Cann fell, and three others (Robert Portillo, Mrs. Matilda Gudino, and Manuel Pena) were injured by the gunfire.[10] Miguel Aponte was injured in the scramble to escape.[8] Cann was hospitalized in Alameda County,[10] but he was mortally wounded and never regained consciousness.[8] He died from his injuries on August 29, 1974.[8]
A municipal playground called William Cann Park was dedicated in the late police chief's honor in 1975.[8]
Claims and theories
On June 21, 1974, the San Francisco Chronicle received a mimeographed letter claiming that the "Santos Rodriquez Assault Squad" of the Chicano Liberation Front had killed Cann after their "Revolutionary Tribunal" found him guilty of "murder and attempted coverup."[11] Per the Chron by way of the Associated Press, "the communique indicated the group was patterned after the Symbionese Liberation Army" that had recently assassinated Oakland school superintendent Marcus Foster.[11] Two weeks after the shooting police stated that the letter "could not be authenticated" and had no info on the shooting that was not public.[12]
Also, graffiti also appeared in an unnamed Chicano/Mexican-American neighborhood that read "A ham for a ham."[13]
A 1977 article on the politics of the Chicano Movement reported that a "subsequent communique denied"[14] that the Chicano Liberation Front was involved in the sniper attack.[15]
A 1979 U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee document reported that Miner had been "exonerated and assigned to a desk job," that the Justice Department had visited the town twice but declined to file civil-rights charges, and that the community felt that the killing of Cann was a set-up since the Chief was considered to be one of the city leaders who was friendliest to local Chicanos.[16]
Investigation and prosecution
The murder of Chief Cann remained unsolved for over six years, at which time a man named Francisco Chavez offered to exchange information on the killing for a lighter sentence on a concealed weapons charge. Per Chavez, the killers were four ex-
References
- ^ San Francisco Bay Guardian (1973). San Francisco Bay Guardian Issue 08.19.
- ^ OCLC 915140378.
- ^ "California Birth Index, 1905-1995," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VLRM-NDX : 27 November 2014), Alberto Terrones, 10 Apr 1944; citing Los Angeles, California, United States, Department of Health Services, Vital Statistics Department, Sacramento.
- ^ a b c "United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JGSF-LZV : 11 January 2021), Albert Terrones, Apr 1974; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database.
- ^ "California Marriage Index, 1960-1985," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V6NV-VMD : 27 November 2014), Albert Terrones and Nadine A Carnes, 02 Apr 1964; from "California, Marriage Index, 1960-1985," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2007); citing Alameda, California, Center of Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento.
- ^ "United States, Social Security Numerical Identification Files (NUMIDENT), 1936-2007", database, FamilySearch(https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6K46-Z8DZ : 11 February 2023), Albert M Terrones in entry for Albert Chavez Terrones, Jr, .
- ^ Judiciary, United States Congress Senate Committee on the (1979). Hearings, Reports and Prints of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. U.S. Government Printing Office.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4396-3632-9.
- ^ Education, United States Congress Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare Subcommittee on (1974). Public Safety Officers Memorial Scholarship Act, 1974: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Education of the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, United States Senate, Ninety-third Congress, Second Session, on S. 2657 ... June 26, 1974. U.S. Government Printing Office.
- ^ a b c Governor, California (1974). Press Releases. Governor's Office.
- ^ a b "San Bernardino Sun 23 June 1974 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu. Retrieved 2023-04-26.
- ^ "Chief remains in coma; Police aren't sure letter about Cann is for real". The Argus. 1974-06-25. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-04-27.
- ^ a b c "Movimiento de Liberación Nacional". library.ucsd.edu. 1981. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
- ^ "Seize the Time (Marxist newsletter), 1974" (PDF).
- ^ Raigoza, James José (1977). The Ad Hoc Committee to Incorporate East Los Angeles: A Study on the Socio-political Orientations of Mexican American Incorporation Advocates. University of California, Los Angeles.
- ^ Judiciary, United States Congress Senate Committee on the (1979). Hearings, Reports and Prints of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. U.S. Government Printing Office.