Couple 'tracked down the pimp of their teenage daughter and shot him to death'

A San Francisco couple tracked down a man they suspected of pimping their teenage daughter and shot him to death, according to authorities.



Barry Gilton and his long-term girlfriend Lupe Mercado appeared in San Francisco Superior Court on Wednesday on charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder and one count of discharging a firearm at an occupied vehicle for the June 4 shooting death of 22-year-old Calvin Sneed.



The couple, who have four children together, have been accused of resorting to premeditated murder after legitimate means to rescue their daughter failed, according to the San Francisco Chronicle .



Justice: Barry Gilton and his long-term girlfriend Lupe Mercado appeared in San Francisco Superior Court (pictured) on Wednesday on murder charges

‘They had gone out to local police agencies, agencies in Southern California - they had even tried talking to national organizations,’ Eric Safire, Gilton's attorney, told the newspaper.



‘Every place they turned to turned them away.’

Police said once the couple found out their 17-year-old daughter might be a working prostitute for Sneed, they began a state-wide search for her.



Authorities believe the pair were responsible for a shooting last month where someone fired into Sneed's car in North Hollywood - but the gang member from Compton, Los Angeles, escaped unscathed.



Location: Prosecutors say Gilton shot Sneed with a .40-caliber handgun on Meade and LeConte avenues, causing the gang member to crash his Toyota Camry

When that attempt at killing him failed, the couple are said to have tracked him down in San Francisco in the early hours of June 4.



Prosecutors say Gilton shot Sneed with a .40-caliber handgun on Meade and LeConte avenues, causing the gang member to crash his Toyota Camry. Sneed later died at San Francisco General Hospital.



Attorneys for the couple, who have been together since high school, said they did not kill the Nutty Block Crip street gang member.



'The motive is all they (prosecutors) have, as far as we're concerned,' Tony Tamburello, Mercado's attorney, told the newspaper. 'This would not be the first time the police and prosecutors got it wrong.'

