SFPD Special Victims Investigators Arrest Mission Kidnapping Suspect

SFPD Special Victims Investigators Arrest Mission Kidnapping SuspectBooking photo of suspect Willie J. McCoy II | Photo: SFPD
Walter Thompson
Published on April 13, 2018

A suspect who was allegedly part of a group that abducted a woman from a Mission district sidewalk was arrested by members of SFPD's Special Victims Unit, the department reported this afternoon.

On April 8th, a 19-year-old woman who was walking near the intersection of 20th and Shotwell streets was forced into a car by numerous suspects who drove her to Santa Clara County, where she later escaped and contacted police.

A second kidnapping took place about 90 minutes later at 3am when a man and a woman in a car approached a 17-year-old female and demanded that she get inside. When she saw a third suspect in the vehicle who was armed, she complied, but she later escaped. 

In that incident, police arrested a man and a woman, but the armed suspect was neither identified nor arrested.

Members of SFPD's Special Victims Unit Human Trafficking Team assumed the lead in the investigation. After identifying a suspect, police in Oakland served a search warrant on the residence of Willie J. McCoy II, 20, where they found several guns.

Willie J. McCoy II booking photo. | Photo: SFPD

McCoy made bail after he was charged with multiple firearms violations, but SVU investigators obtained a warrant directly from a judge for his arrest on charges of kidnapping, threats and human trafficking.

After bail was set at $1.175 million, police issued a crime alert with McCoy's photo to Bay Area law enforcement agencies.

On April 11th, at approximately 3:23am near Cesar Chavez Street and Hampshire Street in the Mission, police conducted a traffic stop after recognizing McCoy in a silver Mercedes sedan, at which point he was taken into custody and later transferred to San Francisco County Jail.

Although an arrest has been made, police are still encouraging anyone who has any information about this incident to contact them via the department's anonymous tip line at 415-575-4444 or text TIP411 with "SFPD" at the start of the message.