I was reading through some S.F. Express Times issues recently and came across an article from March, 1969, that piqued my interest. On September 29, 1968, two police officers were returning to San Francisco after spending their Sunday afternoon boating with friends at Lake Berryessa. While towing the boat back to it’s storage location in the city, the driver of another vehicle accidentally clipped the boat and touched off an angry street confrontation involving the officers and several African-American residents in the neighborhood.

One of the residents, George Baskett, was shot and killed during the melee by Patrolman Michael O’brien. The March, 1969 article covered the courtroom acquittal of Officer O’brien amid a racially charged atmosphere. The things that caught my eye were the mention of Lake Berryessa and the date of September 29, 1968, almost exactly a year prior to Zodiac’s attack at Lake B. I’ve also seen a couple sources mention Mr. Baskett as a member of the Black Panthers, but I would need more info. to corroborate this.

There has been some speculation that the killing of Paul Stine on October 11, 1969 was in revenge for the killing of Pvt. Bunch at the Presidio exactly one year earlier. There were also several articles regarding that shooting in the SF Express Times/Good Times.