Young Fil-Am shot dead in SF while trying to enter wrong apartment

A young Filipino-American in San Francisco died over the weekend after he was shot by a neighbor whose apartment he mistakenly tried to enter after a night of drinking with friends, reports said.

Stephen Guillermo, 26, was shot Saturday morning after he got off the elevator on the wrong floor — third instead of fifth — and went into the unit in the same location as his two floors above, according to a report on SF Gate.
 
Stephen Guillermo, 26, and his family arrived in San Francisco from the Philippines when he was just eight years old. Facebook photo
The shooter and owner of the unit, identified as Amisi Sudi Kachepa, 68, immediately surrendered to the police but was subsequently released.

The apartment where the shooting occurred is located in the 900 block of Mission Street.

According to the SF Gate report, Kachepa told people in the building that he blamed Guillermo for breaking the knob on the door of his unit.

Shooter released

The police did not file charges against Kachepa and eventually released him, saying he just acted in "self-defense," according to a separate report on SF Examiner.

"We feel for all of you," the SF Examiner report quoted San Francisco Police Commission President Thomaas Mazzucco as telling Guillermo's family, who questioned Kachepa's release.

"But there is a system," Mazzucco reportedly added. "The District Attorney has to be able to put a case beyond a reasonable doubt within the laws of the State of California."

The report said under California penal code 198.5, a person who faces fear of death or bodily injury in their home and who uses force is deemed to be acting in self-defense.

A quiet person

Marc Guillermo, the victim's brother, described Stephen as "a quiet person."

"He's not aggressive or violent," Marc told SF Gate.

A separate report on CBS San Francisco said Stephen and his family moved to San Francisco from the Philippines when he was 8 years old.

The CBS report said an online fundraiser has been set up to help the family pay for a memorial service for Guillermo. —KBK, GMA News

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