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PITTSBURG — Police arrested one 20-year-old woman Friday and are searching for another who they say robbed and fatally shot a San Francisco man at the Pittsburg marina earlier this month.
Kiarra Price, of Pittsburg, was arrested as she was leaving her home on Kingsberry Drive at 11 a.m., Pittsburg police Lt. Brian Addington said. He said her accomplice was Teareney Brown, who lives in Richmond.
Addington did not say which of the two women fired the gun that killed 22-year-old Benjamin Merrill about 3 a.m. on Nov. 3. Merrill was in a car with the two women at the time of the shooting, Addington said.
"We are still investigating the circumstances of how these two women came to know the victim," Addington said. "The motive appears to be robbery."
Neither woman has a criminal conviction, but Price had a warrant out for her arrest in an unrelated drug case.
Merrill, a Seattle-area native who was working as a waiter at the Buena Vista Cafe near Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, was found dead at Marina Walk Park. He had no wallet or ID on him and was listed as a "John Doe" for two days until he was identified through a fluke when an uncle sitting in a San Mateo courtroom noticed an officer sitting nearby holding a sketch of the victim.
According to family and friends, Merrill headed out the evening of Nov. 2 for a date and was last seen alone about 8 p.m. at the Holding Company Bar and Grill at the Embarcadero Center
One person reported hearing shots and a car speeding away at the time of the crime.
Addington said police have found the car in which Merrill and the two suspects sat, as well as an iPhone that was stolen from the victim. He did not say how police connected Price and Brown to the homicide.
Anyone with information about the shooting can call the Pittsburg police crime tip line at 925-427-7369.
Roman Gokhman covers public safety. Reach him at 925-945-4780.
