MikeLigalig.com

SAN FRANCISCO — Jason Keith De La Cruz, 31, of Daly City was shot and killed on March 30, 2008 in the Sunset District while buying pizza for his Verizon Wireless team. A friend of De La Cruz, 23-year-old Derek Butch, suffered the same fate. A 19-year-old suspect Matthew Owyang was later arrested from his Daly City home three days later. Police said Owyang is of Asian descent.“It was being at the wrong place at the wrong time,” says mother of De La Cruz, Carol Varley. Younger sister Janelle said there appeared to be no connection between the suspect and his victims.

By the family’s account, Jason was supposed to treat his staff, also known as ‘Team J.D,” that Friday night at the Underdog Sports Bar and Grill on Irving Street for a victorious sales month. After some drinks, the group decided to grab a bite to eat at Irving Pizza located right across the street from the bar. It was about 2:15 a.m. “It was quite a tiny shop filled with high stools where there were only about three tables. As I was leaving the pizzeria, I had noticed a mass crowd coming from the Underdog Sports Bar and Grill and heading towards my way. I had left by the time the shop had begun to fill up,” said Nicole Guico, a customer of Irving Pizza that same night.

As the night progressed, Jason and his half dozen friends had found themselves in the middle of a bombarded crowd waiting in line to order pizza when Jason proclaimed, “Free pizza for Team J.D. on me,” reported Janelle. Another customer had then obliged Jason to serve him free food as well, and with a clash of pride and witty blows to one’s egos, a confrontation began leading the unknown customer to carry the dispute outside while taking his shirt in attempts to start a brawl, said Janelle.

Janelle was told by friends present at the scene that the customer was not much older than 20 and was accompanied by a group of about 15 to 20 other minors.A few minutes later, a man believed to be an acquaintance of the customer had appeared from out of the corner and deliberately fired five to six shots aimed towards Jason. The shots hit Butch as well. “My family went hysterical when we received a call being informed to attend San Francisco’s General Hospital to see their son who had been shot,” said Janelle. “But we were all still hopeful that he was alive.”

With family and friends, Jason’s father fled to the crime scene after discovering that Jason was not yet in the hospital. “We stood there on Irving Street, outside the caution tapes, hoping Jason would be okay. But as the night grew colder and time faded, we knew he had passed away,” said Janelle in tears. Early Tuesday morning, Matthew Owyang was arrested on a $20 million arrest warrant on suspicion of killing two men in the Sunset District early Saturday morning.

“When you met Jason, you couldn’t not like him because he was so warm and friendly. He wanted everybody to be his friend,” Janelle said. Jason leaves behind a wife of seven years, Mary, and three children.