8 arrested in 1971 cop-killing tied to Black Panthers
By MARCUS WOHLSEN, The Associated Press
Jan 23, 2007 2:49 PM
SAN FRANCISCO - Eight men were arrested Tuesday in the 1971 killing of a San Francisco police officer that authorities say was part of a black power group's five-year effort to attack and kill law enforcement officers in San Francisco and New York.
Police said all eight are believed to be former members of the Black Liberation Army, a violent offshoot of the Black Panther Party. The Aug. 29, 1971 shooting death of Sgt. John V. Young, 51, at a San Francisco police station was one in a series of attacks by BLA members on law enforcement officials on both coasts, police said.
The attacks, carried out between 1968 and 1973, also included the bombing of a police funeral in San Francisco and the slayings of two New York City police officers, as well as three armed bank robberies, police said.
Seven of the men were charged with murder and conspiracy. They are Ray Michael Boudreaux, 64, of Altadena; Richard Brown, 65, of San Francisco; Herman Bell, 59, and Anthony Bottom, 55, both currently incarcerated in New York state; Henry Watson Jones, 71, of Altadena; Francisco Torres, 58, of Queens, New York; and Harold Taylor, 58, of Panama City, Fla.
A ninth suspect, Ronald Stanley Bridgeforth, 62, was still being sought on murder and conspiracy charges, police said.
Richard O'Neal, 57, of San Francisco, was also arrested on conspiracy charges.
The investigation of the BLA killing spree was reopened in 1999 after "advances in forensic science led to the discovery of new evidence in one of the unsolved cases," according to a news release from the San Francisco Police Department. No further details were given.
By MARCUS WOHLSEN, The Associated Press
Jan 23, 2007 2:49 PM
SAN FRANCISCO - Eight men were arrested Tuesday in the 1971 killing of a San Francisco police officer that authorities say was part of a black power group's five-year effort to attack and kill law enforcement officers in San Francisco and New York.
Police said all eight are believed to be former members of the Black Liberation Army, a violent offshoot of the Black Panther Party. The Aug. 29, 1971 shooting death of Sgt. John V. Young, 51, at a San Francisco police station was one in a series of attacks by BLA members on law enforcement officials on both coasts, police said.
The attacks, carried out between 1968 and 1973, also included the bombing of a police funeral in San Francisco and the slayings of two New York City police officers, as well as three armed bank robberies, police said.
Seven of the men were charged with murder and conspiracy. They are Ray Michael Boudreaux, 64, of Altadena; Richard Brown, 65, of San Francisco; Herman Bell, 59, and Anthony Bottom, 55, both currently incarcerated in New York state; Henry Watson Jones, 71, of Altadena; Francisco Torres, 58, of Queens, New York; and Harold Taylor, 58, of Panama City, Fla.
A ninth suspect, Ronald Stanley Bridgeforth, 62, was still being sought on murder and conspiracy charges, police said.
Richard O'Neal, 57, of San Francisco, was also arrested on conspiracy charges.
The investigation of the BLA killing spree was reopened in 1999 after "advances in forensic science led to the discovery of new evidence in one of the unsolved cases," according to a news release from the San Francisco Police Department. No further details were given.
