A gun police recovered in the shooting death of a muralist in Oakland, California, was traced back as a weapon stolen from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in San Francisco, according to police sources.
The ICE agent's weapon, a Glock, was reported stolen in September from a vehicle being used by the officer, police sources said. The suspect in that case, Sean Claude Gibson, 24, of San Francisco was booked on more than two dozen charges on Oct. 20, police said. Gibson declined a jail house interview.
How the gun found its way into the hands of the alleged killer of the slain muralist is unknown at this point.
Oakland police on Wednesday confirmed the gun used in the homicide was stolen from ICE, which the federal agency addressed Tuesday evening.
"A duty weapon belonging to an officer with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations was stolen Sept. 13 in San Francisco from a vehicle being used by the officer," ICE said in a statement. "The theft was properly reported to local authorities and through official federal channels. The matter is currently under investigation by ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility."
The stolen Glock was allegedly used to kill muralist Antonio Ramos, who was gunned down on Sept. 29. The 27-year-old Emeryville resident was painting a mural – depicting colorful Victorian homes and a tree-lined street – on the 3500 block of West Street in Oakland, just under the Interstate 580 overpass.
Marquise Holloway, who was arrested Friday in Stockton, is charged in the shooting death of Ramos. During his arraignment on Tuesday, Holloway began swearing and screaming in court while handcuffed. He blurted out the F-word several times. Deputies had to subdue him and take him away.
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Investigators said on Tuesday at a news conference that Holloway came up to Ramos, who was painting with a group of muralists, and eyed his camera equipment. The two got into a brief, but heated argument before Holloway pulled out a gun and shot Ramos, police said.
"He was painting the mural and he had taken a break and was taking some pictures – so he could memorialize it and put it up on a website — so he had some of his camera equipment out there. And I believe that’s what sparked the whole incident," Oakland police Lt. Roland Holmgren said.
Along with a murder charge, Holloway has been slapped with multiple counts of robbery, according to the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office. The 20-year-old is accused of stealing camera equipment – at gunpoint – from a pair of film crews in Oakland last month. He also faces an attempted robbery charge from his face-off with Ramos.
Court documents reveal Holloway told officers Ramos' shooting was an accident. Holloway is being held without bail and is scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 30.
Since 2006, ICE agents have lost more than 140 weapons, according to NBC Bay Area's Investigative Unit.
Ramos is not the only one to be killed with a stolen gun that belongs to the feds.
An undocumented immigrant shot and killed Kate Steinle in July using a gun that was stolen out of a Bureau of Land Management employee's car in San Francisco.
NBC Bay Area's Rhea Mahbubani and Kristofer Noceda contributed to this report.