Parents kill teenage daughter's pimp

[jjw]

A San Francisco couple whose teenage daughter was allegedly being pimped by a Southern California man tracked him around the state, failing at one attempt to kill him before shooting him to death near Candlestick Park, authorities said Wednesday.

Attorneys for the couple say that they tried everything to rescue their daughter from Calvin Sneed, a 22-year-old alleged gang member from Compton (Los Angeles County), but that they didn't kill him.

Prosecutors, however, say that when Barry Gilton and his longtime girlfriend, Lupe Mercado, couldn't get their 17-year-old daughter back through legitimate means, they turned to premeditated murder.

Gilton, 38, and Mercado, 37, appeared in court Wednesday on murder and other charges for allegedly shooting Sneed in the Bayview neighborhood in the early hours of June 4.

The couple have been together since middle school and live with their three other children in San Francisco. Their daughter disappeared some time ago and after searching for her, Gilton and Mercado discovered that she was turning tricks and that Sneed was her pimp, their attorneys said.

"They had gone out to local police agencies, agencies in Southern California - they had even tried talking to national organizations," said Eric Safire, Gilton's attorney. "Every place they turned to turned them away."


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...#ixzz1xobRB8Qc

[Lovejac]

I can't even imagine the desperation those parents must have felt to do something like that.

[LadyL]

tragically, in saving their 17 year-old, they have deprived their three other children of a stable home life with parents

if it's true that they were the ones shooting at him in a previous incident, then this is way premeditated & it seems they were stalking him

that's just as creepy as his supposed actions IMO

I do feel for them but this wasn't a spur-of-the-moment kneejerk reaction - this was murder 1

[katydid23]

Originally Posted by LadyL

tragically, in saving their 17 year-old, they have deprived their three other children of a stable home life with parents

if it's true that they were the ones shooting at him in a previous incident, then this is way premeditated & it seems they were stalking him

that's just as creepy as his supposed actions IMO

I do feel for them but this wasn't a spur-of-the-moment kneejerk reaction - this was murder 1

I agree that it was a bad move on their part. I sympathize with them for sure. But like you said, now ALL of their children are suffering greatly.

I just saw the pimp's father on the tv news. He kind of pissed me off. He kept saying how they had no right to kill his son, just because he was having 'legal' issues. I think he kind of missed the point. And then he said that his son was up there ' just to take the girl back home, and what did he get for it--a bullet to the head.'

I don't think the bullet was because he took her home. The bullet was because he pimped their minor daughter on the streets.

[LolaMoon08]

I hate to say it, but the parents are 100% wrong in this one. I understand their frustration, but they chose to leave their other children parentless and in limbo. Do they think their 17-year-old daughter is going to give up this lifestyle just because they killed her pimp? Nope! She'll get another pimp!

They, the parents, will be lucky if they didn't just sign their own daughters death certificate because of what they did. So their stunt did nothing to bring about any change. Bad decision!

MOO

[PeteyGirl]

In this day and age, people should know better.