2 arrested in Twin Peaks killing of film scout, 71

Booking photo of Lamonte Mims, who has been charged with the murder of 71-year-old Edward French in Twin Peaks. Booking photo of Lamonte Mims, who has been charged with the murder of 71-year-old Edward French in Twin Peaks. Photo: SFPD Photo: SFPD Image 1 of / 32 Caption Close 2 arrested in Twin Peaks killing of film scout, 71 1 / 32 Back to Gallery

Two suspects have been arrested in the shooting death of a 71-year-old photographer on Twin Peaks in an apparent robbery attempt last month, police said Monday.

Arrested after an investigation into the early-morning July 17 killing were Fantasy Decuir, a 20-year-old San Francisco resident, and Lamonte Mims, a 19-year-old resident of Patterson (Stanislaus County), police said.

After the shooting, the assailants ran to a dark-gray Honda Accord and fled the scene, according to police. A nearby jogger heard the gunshot and performed CPR on Edward French until paramedics arrived to take him to San Francisco General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Decuir was charged with homicide, robbery and using a firearm to commit a crime, officials said.

Mims was booked on Monday on suspicion of homicide, robbery, being a principal in commission of a crime and using a firearm in commission of a felony, police said. It was not immediately clear whether Mims had been charged by prosecutors.

Investigators said they linked Decuir and Mims to the killing of the photographer and film scout when probing an unrelated robbery.

That investigation, into an armed robbery near the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption at Geary and Gough streets on the morning of July 28 — an area that teems with visitors throughout the day — pointed police to Decuir and Mims in the Twin Peaks killing, authorities said.

In the St. Mary’s robbery, a 53-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman were robbed of cameras and wallets at gunpoint, police said.

Filipa Ioannou and Michael Bodley are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: fioannou@sfchronicle.com, mbodley@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @obioannoukenobi, @michael_bodley