Francisco Salvador Perez was a disabled state worker waiting to go home at a downtown bus stop when he was shot, allegedly by a homeless woman, on Sept. 22, 2008.
Perez was buried in a simple, heartfelt funeral Tuesday – 13 months after Audrey Ann Jackson tried to panhandle Perez and then, police say, shot him after the two exchanged words. Family members wept while keeping vigil around the casket of their beloved "Frank," who was 55 when he died Oct. 27.
A Sacramento County coroner's official said Tuesday that initial tests show that Perez's death is linked to his gunshot wounds, though a final determination is pending. Jackson is scheduled to go on trial Dec. 1 on a count of attempted murder. She could be charged with murder.
"No matter what happens to her, it can't bring our brother back," Adrian Perez, Francisco's brother, said Tuesday. The shooting at Sixth and J streets sent shock waves through the Sacramento region. In the gritty sections of downtown, Sacramentans are used to panhandlers who behave erratically due to mental illness or substance abuse.
But a homeless woman shooting a man who refuses her demands for spare change?
There were reports that Jackson, 48, had just been transported to Sacramento from Reno on a Greyhound bus when she had a fateful encounter with Perez. Family members told The Bee that Jackson had shown signs of mental illness for decades. She told a Bee reporter that she feared Perez, but her statements did not match those of witnesses, police said.
In a case involving the politically charged issue of homelessness, it's easy to forget Francisco Perez. He was from a loving family, was born with cerebral palsy and walked with a cane and a noticeable limp. He was remembered Tuesday as a joyous soul. "He was always a joker, had a great sense of humor," said Ricardo Perez, Francisco's nephew.
After the shooting, Perez endured two surgeries. He died of an aneurysm the night before another was scheduled, his family said. "He was 5-foot-6, but after the shooting he was five-one," Adrian Perez said. "He was always crouched over. When he first went home from the hospital he would cry a lot. He had nightmares that this lady aimed a gun at his head and fired it."
When Jackson asked Perez for change that day, Perez said no – firmly but not in a hostile way, his brother said. He told her that she looked able to get a job. "It was not heated. For him to get angry, you really had to push him."
On Tuesday, the Perez family mourned together in the town of Turlock, near where they grew up. They sang songs as Perez's casket – adorned with the logo of his beloved San Francisco 49ers – was lowered into the earth. "I'm going to graduate from Sacramento State in December," Ricardo Perez said. "I wanted my uncle to see me."
Call The Bee's Marcos Breton, (916) 321-1096.
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