Gun that killed muralist was stolen from federal agent

Oakland police said Wednesday that the gun they believe the gun reputed gang member Marquise Holloway used to fatally shoot mural artist Antonio Ramos on Sept. 29 had been stolen from a U.S. Customs and Immigration agent in San Francisco earlier in the month.

Oakland police said the stolen firearm was reported as property taken in a burglary but they didn’t say how Holloway wound up with it.

ICE spokesman James Schwab said the gun was stolen on Sept. 13 and was reported to the San Francisco Police Department through federal channels.

Schwab said he doesn’t have information about what happened to the gun later.

ICE officials said in a statement that the matter is currently under investigation by the agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility.

Holloway, 20, was charged on Tuesday with murder and the special circumstance of committing a robbery during a murder for the fatal shooting of Ramos in the 3500 block of West Street at about 10:30 a.m. on Sept. 29.

Ramos, a 27-year-old Emeryville resident, was working on a 4,000-square-foot mural underneath an Interstate Highway 580 overpass when he was shot. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital a short time later.

The mural is part of the Oakland Super Heroes Mural Project, a collaboration between artists and local students organized by Art Esteem, the literacy and art arm of Attitudinal Healing Connection, a West Oakland group that seeks to stop violence by inspiring people with art and education.

Holloway is also charged with two counts of attempted second-degree robbery and three counts of second-degree robbery for incidents on Sept. 29, the same day that Ramos was killed, and Oct. 5. Oakland police allege that he was armed with a gun during those incidents.

Holloway, who is being held without bail, was arraigned at a hearing on Tuesday during which he shouted obscenities as a judge read the charges against him and was escorted from the courtroom by bailiffs. He’s scheduled to return to court on Monday to be assigned an attorney and possibly enter a plea.

The theft of the ICE agent’s gun in San Francisco in September is one of many recent thefts of guns belonging to law enforcement officials, including one stolen from a U.S. Bureau of Land Management agent’s car that was connected to the July 1 murder of 30-year-old Katryn Steinle in San Francisco.