Strawberry homicide victim planned to get divorce, friend says

Investigators were still seeking answers Tuesday about why a retired San Francisco police sergeant shot his wife and daughter to death at their Strawberry home over the weekend.

But a close friend of victim Ann Mannix says she was planning to divorce her husband Kevin, who killed himself after the murders, authorities said.

Marie Hurabiell, a San Francisco resident, said she last spoke with Ann Mannix at a party several weeks before she died.

“She was telling me she was getting a divorce and she was very respectful about it,” Hurabiell said. “She said it was hard getting a divorce, but she said it was for the best. She was very hopeful about the future.”

The shooting happened at about 5 p.m. Sunday at the Mannix residence on Strawberry Circle, according to the Marin County Sheriff’s Office. A caller who lives there escaped and notified authorities.

Deputies arrived to find the bodies of Kevin Mannix, 68, Ann Mannix, 65, and Katherine Mannix, 24. The sheriff’s office has not released the caller’s connection to the family.

The sheriff’s office released no new details about the case on Tuesday. A spokesperson, Miguel Almaguer, said the address did not have a history of calls for law enforcement.

Ann Mannix, 65, was a retired deputy chief for the San Francisco Police Department. Among other accomplishments in her 27-year career, she was the first woman to join and lead the SWAT team.

Katherine Mannix was a student at the College of Marin.

Hurabiell is the executive director of ConnectedSF, a collection of San Francisco neighborhood groups that promote civic engagement. She said Ann Mannix worked with the organization to share her insights about the police department.

“Ann was just unbelievable in her wealth of knowledge and her ability to present that knowledge in a way that was easily understandable,” Hurabiell said.

She is still processing the homicides.

“It’s just unbelievable that someone who has done so much good in the world had her future taken from her,” Hurabiell said.

Julie Lane, a retired emergency dispatcher for San Francisco, said just one meeting with Mannix was enough to leave an enduring impression. Mannix came to talk to the dispatchers after they handled a volume of calls stemming from a chaotic shooting involving an officer.

“There were just a lot of loose ends,” said Lane, a San Francisco resident. “We didn’t know who did what and why.”

She said Mannix thoroughly explained the incident and left the dispatchers with a sense of closure.

“It was really helpful to have someone this mature and able to relate to,” Lane said. “She was the perfect person to do that.”

Mannix served on the board for the San Francisco Police Activities League. The nonprofit’s executive director, Rick Bruce, said he had known her since she started as a police officer more than 40 years ago.

“Ann was really committed to the youth of San Francisco,” he said.

Louis Wong, president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association, said Tuesday that memorial service arrangements are pending.