Despite a heavy police presence at a Hells Angels funeral in San Jose on Saturday, a top bike-club enforcer nicknamed “Mr. 187” after the state penal code number for murder was gunned down Saturday in front of stunned mourners.
Multiple sources told this newspaper that the victim of the 12:51 p.m. shooting at Oak Hill Memorial Park on Curtner Avenue was Steve Tausan, a notorious sergeant-at-arms for the Santa Cruz chapter of the club suspected of murder in the 1997 beating death of a man at the Pink Poodle strip club.
San Jose police would not confirm the identity of the shooting victim, but did report that he was pronounced dead at a hospital at 1:44 p.m.
Saturday’s violence appeared to be a squabble between fellow Hells Angels members that was set off when Tausan punched a fellow biker and the biker retaliated by shooting him.
The funeral drew thousands of bikers from clubs all across the West Coast, who rumbled into the cemetery Saturday morning. Uniformed officers from various law enforcement agencies ringed the perimeter, while others attended the ceremony in plainclothes. By 2 p.m. when police allowed mourners to leave, a thundering herd of bikers from the Henchmen, East Side Riders Car Club, Devil Dolls, Top Hatters and more roared west on Curtner Avenue toward the freeway.
Police have no suspect in custody but are interviewing several witnesses, according to San Jose police spokesman Jose Garcia.
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