GIRLFRIEND OF ALLEGED CRACK DEALER FATALLY SHOT

Fugitive, 21, at large after eluding cops

A teenager was fatally shot yesterday when San Francisco police officers
opened fire as they tried to arrest her boyfriend, an alleged crack-cocaine
dealer who had failed to appear in court.

The shooting occurred at noon as about 10 officers from the San Francisco
Police Department, the FBI and other agencies tried to arrest Raymondo Cox,
21, outside the Oakwood Apartments, across from Lake Merced in the Lake
Shore neighborhood.

According to police, Cox jumped into a Ford Mustang driven by Michael
Johnson, 24, with Cox's 17-year-old girlfriend in the front passenger's
seat.

The Mustang sped toward two officers and shots rang out, shattering the
rear window of the car, police said.

The 17-year-old, whose name was not released, was shot at least once in the
head. ``We're not considering her as an innocent victim, but she is a
victim,'' said homicide Lieutenant David Robinson.

Initially, police spokesmen said officers fired the fatal shot.

But last night, Robinson said investigators have yet to reach that
conclusion, although they are certain that some officers opened fire.

``We're trying to determine for sure how the female was shot; perhaps it
was someone in the vehicle,'' Robinson said. ``We believe that two officers
(who were in the path of the Mustang) are the officers who fired . . . but
I have no facts to support that.''

Investigators were still interviewing law enforcement officers late last night.

According to police, officers were justified in opening fire. ``A car is a
multi-thousand-pound bullet,'' Robinson said. ``You have a right to defend
yourself to neutralize aggression.''

``It was pow . . . pow, pow, pow,'' said Oakwood resident Loni Brown, who
heard the screeching of tires and the sound of gunfire.

One officer was shouting: ``Did anybody get hit? Did anybody get hit?'' she
said.

Minutes later, the fleeing suspects slammed into the traffic median near
34th Avenue and Sloat Boulevard and collided head-on with an Oldsmobile,
officers said.

Cox and Johnson leaped out, abandoning the mortally wounded teenager. The
two then hijacked a Toyota Camry, yanking its driver, 68-year-old Zayed
Zawaydeh, from behind the wheel and shoving him to the ground.

One of the suspects shouted, ``Give me the car, give me your car,'' said
Zawaydeh, who had just left his home. ``I was afraid, I didn't know what to
say. Finally, I said, `Why do you want to take my car?' But he threw me to
the ground. He just pulled me out like a small bird.''

The crash occurred near the Lakeshore Plaza shopping center, and off-duty
firefighter Bob Jackson ran to scene and tried to revive the teenager. He
soon discovered that there was no hope. ``I just realized it was a lost
cause,'' he said. ``There was no pulse, no breath. She was dead.''

Cox and Johnson fled east on Sloat, driving Zawaydeh's 1987 gray four-door
Camry, with license number 2FAV515. They are considered armed and
dangerous.

Cox, a parolee with a history of narcotics convictions, was being sought on
a $50,000 bench warrant that was issued after he failed to appear in San
Francisco court in a crack-cocaine trafficking case. Police, the FBI and
other law enforcement agencies had gone to the apartment complex in
connection with the warrant and a pending drug investigation.

``They (Cox and Johnson) are involved in a narcotics enterprise,'' dealing
in cocaine and possibly other drugs, Robinson said. ```They are
distributors above street level.''

Reached last night at her home in Washington state, Cox's mother said she
was stunned by her only child's alleged involvement in the case. ``I want
him to please call me and to turn himself in,'' Chequita Cox said. ``I want
him to know that I love him and that I want to see him alive, not six feet
under.'' Chequita Cox said she sent her son to live with relatives in San
Francisco about six years ago. ``He told me he was working, but like many
kids his age, he didn't tell me what he was doing,'' she said, adding that
she last spoke to him on Mother's Day. ``I can't believe my son is walking
around with a gun and that he's dangerous.''

)1998 San Francisco Chronicle

Checked-by: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)