22h 44min, feb 16, 1970 y - Golden Gate Park Station bombing HOMICIDE & BOMBING

Description:

On Feb. 16, 1970, while San Francisco Police Sergeant Brian Valentine McDonnell (45yo) was standing in the business office of Golden Gate Park Police Station at 1899 Waller Street in San Francisco, a pipe bomb filled with heavy staples placed near a station window exploded. Nine other officers were wounded, with McDonnell most critically of all. His jugular was slashed by shrapnel, and a heavy metal staple pierced his right eye and lodged in his brain, among other injuries.

Despite undergoing multiple surgeries and blood transfusions, McDonnell later died of his injuries in the hospital in the afternoon of Wed., Feb. 18.

Groups ranging from the Weather Underground to the Black Liberation Army to just "terrorists" in general, have been suspected to be behind the bombing, but no one has been conclusively linked. The case is still unsolved, and McDonnell is still listed as a victim of an unsolved homicide on the SFPD's cold case page.

In a letter, the Zodiac Killer has actually denied involvement in the bombing. On April 20, 1970 -- about two months after McDonnell's death -- the Zodiac sent a letter to the San Francisco Chronicle stating (among other things): "I hope you do not think that I was the one who wiped out that blue meannie with a bomb at the cop station. Even though I talked about killing school children with one. It just wouldn't doo to move in on someone elses teritory. But there is more glory in killing a cop than a cid because a cop can shoot back."

LUNAR PHASE:
ZODIAC SIGN:
DAY OF WEEK: Monday
EVENTS: Feb. 14 = Valentines Day (2 days earlier)

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