Police have made an arrest in Wednesday’s stabbing death of a west-side dad.
San Francisco Police Department investigators caught the alleged killer, Daniel Patrick Rodriguez Jr., Friday at around 8:30 a.m. in Tuolumne County after a statewide alert was issued following a citywide manhunt, according to Taraval Station Captain Clayton Harmston.
Officers responded Wednesday to the stabbing at 4:38 p.m. near the intersection of Junipero Serra Boulevard and Ocean Avenue, across the street from Commodore Sloat Elementary School.
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Harmston said the victim and suspect did not know each other, but an altercation took place between them. Bystanders tried to intervene, but Rodriguez stabbed the victim and fled. “This was a random act,” Harmston said.
Harmston told The Standard that officers used neighbors’ home surveillance systems to track Rodriguez after the stabbing. Cops saw the 42-year-old get into a vehicle and flee.
Separately, cops raided his home on idyllic Darien Way near Kenwood Way and found evidence of the attack, Harmston said.
The victim, Robert Paul Byrd II, 35, died from his injuries at a hospital, authorities said late Thursday.
Byrd was devoted to his 8-year-old son, according to his father, Robert Byrd. He worked part-time at San Francisco General Hospital.
“I’m just here thinking and hurting over my baby, my son,” Robert Byrd said through tears. “He was an upstanding citizen. He was a good father to his son. He was a good son to me. He was my wife’s sidekick.”
Byrd did not know of any connection between his son and the suspect.
“May God punish the man who did this to my son,” he said.
Commodore Sloat staff told parents Thursday night that the victim had a child enrolled in the school.
“We have confirmed that the individual was a parent in our school community, and we are deeply saddened to share that they have passed away,” the message said.
Harmston said Rodriguez had no connection to the school.
Byrd was holding the hand of a child when he was stabbed, the Ingleside Light reported.