S.F. police: Man killed by cops fatally beat mom

Attempts being made to capture a man shooting a gun in a building on Polk at Leavenworth streets in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday night, May 9, 2012. Attempts being made to capture a man shooting a gun in a building on Polk at Leavenworth streets in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday night, May 9, 2012. Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 25 Caption Close S.F. police: Man killed by cops fatally beat mom 1 / 25 Back to Gallery

The 41-year-old man killed by San Francisco police after he fired numerous shots at officers from his girlfriend's apartment had beaten his mother to death for trying to evict him from her home, authorities said Thursday.

Dennis Hughes was shot to death at an apartment building at 861 Post St. near Hyde Street about 10 p.m. Wednesday. A single shot from a police sharpshooter killed Hughes after a standoff of more than an hour, during which he had barricaded himself in a third-floor apartment and fired through the door, walls and ceiling, authorities said.

Police had gone looking for Hughes at the apartment a day after finding the body of his mother, Dianne Hughes, 66, in the home the two shared on Bernice Avenue in Rohnert Park. Investigators believe he beat her to death because she wanted him out of the house, said Brian Masterson, chief of the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety.

The mother "was in the process of having Dennis leave the house," Masterson said at a news conference in San Francisco on Thursday. "There were some problems between mother and son."

Girlfriend 'ashen'

Three Rohnert Park police detectives, joined by San Francisco officers as backup, went to Hughes' girlfriend's apartment about 8:45 p.m. Wednesday. When the girlfriend opened the door, "she was ashen. She seemed very nervous and anxious," Masterson said.

The officers called out to Dennis Hughes, who briefly spoke with them and then began shooting, authorities said.

As police retreated with the girlfriend, "the suspect continued to shoot out of the apartment, through the ceiling, the floor, the walls, into adjacent apartments, hallways and staircases," said San Francisco police Lt. Hector Sainez.

Hughes barricaded himself in the apartment, pushing furniture against the door and spraying a chemical agent such as Mace around the unit, Sainez said. He also lit several small fires, Sainez said.

Four quick shots

Brandon Scott, 28, who lives in the apartment next door, said he and his fiancee had heard the Rohnert Park detectives asking Hughes to come out.

"I heard four shots, quick," and then the officers retreated, Scott said.

After letting the officers into his apartment, he and his fiancee hid behind their oven. When more shots rang out, the officers told the couple to leave the building through the fire escape.

Other apartments in the 18-unit building were also evacuated, and police blocked off Post between Leavenworth and Hyde streets.

San Francisco's police SWAT team and negotiators arrived soon after the first shots were fired. As the shooting continued, police officials decided that officers should try to "eliminate the threat" to public safety, Police Chief Greg Suhr said.

"That opportunity presented itself," Suhr said.

Sainez said a San Francisco police sharpshooter had killed Hughes from a position south of the apartment building. Scott said he had heard "one loud shot, and then nothing."

Two guns

Inside the girlfriend's apartment, officers found two handguns, one on a bed and one near Hughes, Suhr said. A wide trail of what appeared to be blood marked the outside of the building from the apartment window.

Hughes' girlfriend, Merry Van Abkoude, has not been arrested. Suhr said investigators were interviewing her.

"We feel awful about what has happened," Van Abkoude's mother, Kathy Van Abkoude, said Thursday. She said the couple had been together for several years.

One San Francisco officer was injured during the incident and was treated at a hospital and released, police said.

Mother's death

An autopsy on Hughes' mother determined she died of blunt force trauma to the head. Police found her Tuesday morning after a daughter and a family friend called police and expressed concern they had not heard from her recently, said Sgt. Jeff Nicks of the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety.

It was unclear how long she had been dead. Her 2005 Toyota Highlander, which had been missing from her driveway, was found Thursday near where her son was killed.