Two killed, man wounded in Japantown shooting
- Carrie Sturrock, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, October 22, 2006

(10-22) 17:51 PDT -- Police have arrested a Redwood City man in a shooting spree that killed a woman and a man at a Japantown bar Saturday night and wounded the bartender.

Song Sun Lee, 34, of San Bruno, was killed in the shootings at The Flow, at 1704 Post St., and Kam Yan Li, 22, of San Francisco died today of injuries he suffered there, the San Francisco Medical Examiner's office reported.

San Francisco police Sgt. Steve Mannina said Joseph Melcher, 25, of Redwood City walked into the bar about 9:17 p.m., encountered three women, asked for someone by name and -- a short time later -- pulled out a handgun and began shooting.

He first shot and injured the female bartender and then shot and killed Lee, who also may have been an employee, Mannina said. Then Melcher got into an altercation with Li as he left the bar and shot him too, Mannina said.

Mannina said police do not believe Melcher knew Li, who was taken to San Francisco General Hospital and died today.

Immediately after the shootings, numerous bystanders called 911 and a dispatcher broadcast a description of the suspect.

After a plainclothes officer saw Melcher -- who fit the description -- get into a car, an officer in a police car followed Melcher until his car stalled in traffic. He surrendered to police at Oak and Webster streets, a dozen blocks from the scene of the shooting.

Police booked Melcher on suspicion of homicide, two counts of attempted homicide and two counts of assault with a firearm. They do not yet have a motive for the shooting spree.