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Ranger Promoted Months After Gun Was Used In SF Killing By Undocumented Immigrant

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A news station says the U.S. Bureau of Land Management promoted a ranger months after his stolen gun turned up in the hands of a Mexican man accused of using it to kill a woman on a San Francisco pier.

KQED news said Friday an internal BLM email thread it obtained shows that Ranger John Woychowski was promoted to a supervisory position five months after Kate Steinle's July 2015 death.

BLM spokeswoman Sarah Webster said Friday Woychowski followed proper protocol for reporting the gun stolen.

The man accused of killing Steinle, Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, said the gun was wrapped in t-shirt he found under a bench, and it went off accidentally.

Steinle's death set off a national debate over U.S. sanctuary cities and immigration. Zarate had been deported five times.

(© Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast rewritten or redistributed.)

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