Gus Rugley: Shot 36 times by SFPD, 6 in the head

His real name is Gustavus Rugley, but we called him Gus. 

Gus had been under surveillance that day from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. He left his house walking twice on foot before deciding to drive the third time.

Mr. Rugley was watched by over 20 officers — there was the gang task force, homicide, special units and tactical units. These are major players with M-16s and AR-15s — the heavy artillery. They carry 30- and 60-bullet clips in their guns.

They were on a mission that day, and Gus was just a suspect. He was never once questioned, apprehended, asked to come to the station. 

A young man, unarmed, no drugs in his system, shot 36 times, six times in the head, by the SFPD.

But those of you who live in the city know that (the intersection at) Alemany Boulevard and Ocean Avenue, at 6:30 p.m., is congested with traffic both ways. There is no way that you could bob and weave in and out of cars there.

I want to touch on the end of the chase: Gus had given up. His hands were up in the air.

A witness, Anna Catreras, said Mr. Rugley sat in his truck and an officer in a light blue sweatshirt walked up, opened up the back passenger door of Gus’ vehicle and proceeded to unload her gun. Ms. Catreras’ later said that her statement was completely turned around in a July 2004 Chronicle story. She never said that Mr. Rugley was shooting back.

After he was shot, the command was given for Mr. Rugley to come out of the truck with his hands up. But he was dead.

The whole force shot at Gustavus Rugley. His right temple was struck, and his body on the whole right side had bullet holes.

This is an unjustified use of a firearm in the worst way. He was dead, and they all knew that.

What “brave” officer shot Gus at point blank range? He couldn’t have been afraid of Gus, or he wouldn’t be that close.

 And then do you know what they said? “He was shooting at us.”

The family got an autopsy nine and a half months later. It took them so long to give it to Ms. Pollard because they were hiding things. They knew public outcry was going to be so bad that we were going to tear the city up. But we’re not a family like that.

We just want to find out what really happened here, and we want justice. We want justice for Gus, who is no longer here.

It took nine and a half months to give my family the autopsy report. But, it took almost three weeks for them to release his body — that was another cover-up.

The autopsy report stated that there was no gunpowder residue on the fronts or the backs of this young man’s hands and none on his clothing. So who the hell was shooting at who?

I think that this is an injustice in the worse way. Gustavus had 36 bullets — not 32, not 31 — but 36 bullets in him, with six being in his head. He had a temple shot at close range and was shot from front to back, back to front, right to left and left to right.

That’s an execution! You shouldn’t be able to justify shooting someone like that.

They say during the chase Gus hit four of their police cars. Even I know that if you bump a police car, they’re going to shoot you dead on the first bump. We’re talking about four cars hit by the end of the chase — I don’t think so.

There was no airbag deployed, not in the police cars or in Gus’ truck. So that is another story that they webbed, and it’s another lie. Police will lie, lie, lie, lie. This is a web of lies.

We’re still finding out facts, and here’s another one: The young man that Gus is accused of killing — Gus didn’t kill him. And even the police knew Gus didn’t kill him. But they made him a suspect, got a $1 million warrant and came and hunted him down like a wild piece of meat.

When Mr. Rugley was walking on the streets, before he got to his truck, not one officer tried to apprehend him and say, “You’re under arrest.” They baited him to get him into his truck.

They were in unmarked cars — all the officers were in plain clothes. No lights, no sirens. Now what kind of high speed chase goes on with no lights and no sirens and at the end the suspect is dead? You tell me.