SFPD Shooting ends in Arrest of “Long-Gun Serial Robbers”

Three teenagers got nicked with the name “Long-Gun Serial Robbers.”  The name stemmed from a couple of robberies that ensued in early March, along with a carjacking, the teens were seen with a long, sawed-off rifle. Not a shotgun but a sawed-off rifle; by police yardstick, nearly 20 inches.

Eddie Tillman arrest photo

The wooden stock looks like old snakeskin in places. Not a gun you would use to take careful aim; there’s nothing careful about it; it’s a poor man’s luxury assault weapon; just holding it is an act of intimidation, as if to say, ‘Above all, I’m unstable, and if I don’t like you for any reason, and my likes never last more than a second, you won’t exist.’

Travel Council arrest photo

Things come to a head for the Long Gun Robbers on March 5th when SFPD encounter one Eddie Tillman, 18, in the Bayview Housing Authority on Ingalls and Kiska.  The suspect was driving a 2011 BMW reported stolen the day before —from a mother with a five-year-old child.

Officers pursued the vehicle, cornered the man in a cul-de-sac, and got out to arrest him. But he’s long ago, gone awry; he slammed into reverse, hit a cop car, sent an officer flying, tried for another, and the police became fully engaged. They fired. The kid gets hit, but still looked for an exit; he crashed into another black and white, and then finally into a residential building.

Paramedics came, took him to the hospital; he recovers.  As for the officer hit by the car, “no life-threatening injuries,” according to SFPD media officer Gordon Shyy. “He was treated and released.”

Mr. Tillman later gave up two alleged accomplices: an unnamed juvenile and Travell Council, 19. They’re each held on $650,000 bail, and face charges of robbery, attempted robbery, carjacking and child endangerment.

long-barreled gun

Tillman, is held on those charges plus the alleged attack on police. He’s free to go if he can manage $945,000.  Incidentally, except for the carjacking, the robberies were all botched. In one case, the victim, out on 33rd Avenue, stalled the robbers outside his house long enough that a neighbor could be seen on a phone, presumably calling police. In another case, the victims simply fled and the long gun boys didn’t pursue.

Read more:

SF Appeal.com:  SFPD Shooting Leads to Arrest of “Long Gun Serial Robbers

SF-Police.org:  Long Gun Serial Robbers Arrested and Connected to George Court Officer Involved Shooting