Jul 19, 2008

Shooting victim remembered

Lacy arrived in Palo Alto shortly before attack at city hall

By Kristina Peterson / Daily News Staff Writer

The man killed outside Palo Alto City Hall last weekend came to patronize the city's downtown bars only a couple of hours before he was shot, police confirmed Friday.

Earlier in the evening, 27-year-old South San Francisco resident Phillip Lacy was hanging out with his buddies in San Mateo, friends said Friday.

"I saw him just two hours before it all happened," friend Danny Callaghan said before Lacy's funeral on Friday. Palo Alto police Agent Dan Ryan confirmed that the car-load of friends with whom Lacy went out on Saturday night came to Palo Alto around 11:30 p.m.

Later at about 1:45 a.m. Sunday, while waiting for two of his friends to return to the car, Lacy was robbed and shot in the head just outside the City Hall parking garage. On Wednesday, Palo Alto police identified the shooting suspect as Gilroy resident Otto Emil Koloto, 22, also known as Otto Emil Huhane. Police do not believe the two men knew each other, Ryan said.

On Friday, police continued to search the Bay Area for Koloto, who recently lived near Palo Alto and is now wanted on a $2 million warrant. Police are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.

"We suspect he may just be laying low," Ryan said.

Meanwhile, Lacy's friends and family gathered at the First Baptist Church of San Mateo for his funeral Friday morning. Lacy died Tuesday afternoon when he was taken off life-support at Stanford Hospital.
Outside the closed service, friends described Lacy as a fun-loving sports fan.

"He was always joking around," Callaghan said. Lacy was an avid baseball fan and always rooted for the New York Giants football team, though he was born in Texas, he said.

A giant floral arrangement in the shape of a baseball was propped outside the doors to the church and one guest wore a baseball cap embroidered with his name.

Lacy, most recently a South San Francisco resident, had also lived in Belmont and Millbrae, according to Palo Alto police. He attended Mills High School, where he played on the football team, said one of his former teammates outside the funeral.

"A lot of guys you go to high school with, you try to avoid. He wasn't one of those guys," said the former teammate, who also attended junior high with Lacy.

Lacy was not married and had no children, according to friends. His surviving relatives include a brother, sister and stepbrother.

At the time of his death Lacy was not employed, Ryan said. He may have recently received an inheritance when his father died, Ryan noted.

Anyone with information about the crime is asked to call the police department's anonymous tip line at 650-329-2190.



E-mail Kristina Peterson at kpeterson@dailynewsgroup.com.