Bureau of Land Management Agent Promoted After His Gun Stolen, Used to Kill Kate Steinle

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 21: A large photo of Kathryn 'Kate' Steinle who was killed by an ill
Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Bureau of Land Management agent John Woychowski was promoted five months after his gun was stolen and used to kill Kate Steinle.

Woychowski’s “unsecured” Sig Sauer .40 caliber was stolen and ended up in the hands of Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, also known as Juan Francisco Lopez Sanchez, who had the gun when Kate Steinle was killed. CNN reports Zarate was acquitted in the death of Steinle on Thursday yet found guilty of “possession of a firearm.”

The gun was stolen from Woychowski’s car, but the person who actually stole the gun has not been named.

In October, KQED reported that Woychowski was promoted five months after Steinle was shot. Attorneys stated Woychowski’s gun was stolen on a day when he had driven “over 600 miles” up the coast of California. He told investigators he drove that great distance “before stopping near the Embarcadero in San Francisco for dinner at almost 10 p.m.”

He was in a personal car and, upon returning to it, he noticed it had been burglarized. “The backpack containing Woychowski’s duty weapon and ammunition [were] missing.”

The gun was stolen June 27 and Steinle was killed with it four days later.

Woychowski was not disciplined nor did he face charges in Steinle’s death. But he did get a promotion.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for the Breitbart News.  He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.

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