Zebra murders

Zebra murders
Convicted "Zebra murderers" at the time of their arrest in 1974: Manuel Moore, Larry Green, Jessie Lee Cooks, and J.C.X. Simon
Criminal penalty	Life imprisonment
Conviction(s)	First-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder
Killings
Victims	15 dead; 8–10 wounded
Span of killings	1973–1974
Country	United States
State(s)	California
Date apprehended	1974

The "Zebra" murders were a string of racially motivated murders that took place in San Francisco, California, from October 1973 to April 1974. A group of male Black Muslims who called themselves the "Death Angels" committed at least 15 murders and 8 attempted murders, mostly against white victims. However, some authorities believe they may have killed as many as 73 or more victims. Criminology professor Anthony Walsh wrote how "The San Francisco–based Death Angels may have killed more people in the early to mid-1970s than all the other serial killers operating during that period combined." Police named the case "Zebra" after the special police radio band they assigned for the investigation.

In 1974, four men — Manuel Moore, Larry Green, Jessie Lee Cooks, and J.C.X. Simon — were arrested in connection with the case. They were convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy charges and sentenced to life imprisonment.

On October 19, 1973, Richard Hague, 30, and his wife, Quita, 28, were strolling near their Telegraph Hill home when they were kidnapped by a group of black men and forced into a van. Quita was fondled by two men and then nearly decapitated by a third with a machete. One of the men who had fondled Quita then similarly hacked Richard and left him for dead, but he survived.

Ten days later, on October 29, Frances Rose, 28, was repeatedly shot by a man who blocked her car's path and demanded a ride, as she was driving up to the entrance gate of the University of California extension.

On November 9, a 26-year-old gas company clerk, Robert Stoeckmann, was assaulted by another man but was able to take the gun away and fire back. The attacker, Leroy Doctor, was later arrested and convicted of assault with a deadly weapon.

Saleem "Sammy" Erakat, a 53-year-old Jordanian Arab Muslim, was bound and shot dead in the restroom of his grocery store on November 25.

On December 11, Paul Dancik, a 26-year-old artist, was shot three times in the chest by a man as he was preparing to make a telephone call at a payphone. Two days later, on the evening of December 13, future San Francisco mayor Art Agnos, then a member of the California Commission on Aging, was attending a meeting in Potrero Hill. Agnos, 35, was in the largely black neighborhood to discuss building a government-funded health clinic in the area. After the meeting ended, Agnos was talking to two women curbside when a man shot him twice in the back. Agnos was seriously injured but survived.