‘Walking across the street with his son’: 8-year-old watches his dad get stabbed to death while ‘holding his hand’ after school pickup, cops say
Inset: Robert Byrd II (GoFundMe). Background: The scene after Robert Byrd II was stabbed to death near Commodore Sloat Elementary School in San Francisco, Calif., last Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025 (KGO/YouTube).
A California father was stabbed to death in broad daylight while walking hand-in-hand with his 8-year-old son just moments after picking him up from school, cops say.
“The homicide was horrific,” said San Francisco Police Department interim Chief Paul Yep during a press conference Friday after the arrest of Robert Byrd II’s alleged killer.
“A father who was walking across the street with his son was fatally stabbed in the crosswalk after getting into an altercation with the suspect,” Yep told reporters. “Immediately after this incident occurred, our officers began a tireless investigation to identify and apprehend the suspect. We were relentless.”
Byrd had just done “school pickup” for his son at nearby Commodore Sloat Elementary School in San Francisco on Wednesday when he was attacked during an argument with another man, police officials say. “There were words that were exchanged, and other people heard the commotion and what was happening, and the perpetrator stabbed the victim and ran away,” San Francisco District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar told local ABC affiliate KGO on Wednesday after the slaying.
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Cops have not released a name or motive for the suspect, who was reportedly behind bars over the weekend, but they have said he was a resident who lived nearby. Investigators used automated license plate readers, surveillance cameras and a drone to find and capture the man, along with eyewitness accounts.
“Many of our officers haven’t slept in a couple days,” SFPD official Thomas Maguire told reporters on Friday. “They worked around the clock. With community cooperation and with utilizations of technology and a major deployment of our police personnel, we were able to follow leads that led us to Tuolumne County, and we made a safe arrest.”
Officials described Byrd’s death as “particularly disturbing to the community and to the parents and students” of the San Francisco Unified School District. Superintendent Maria Su said Friday that it was a “horrific, horrific tragedy” that SFUSD had “never experienced at this level” before.
“A kid shouldn’t lose his father,” resident Trish Lethin told KGO. “But then to have to see him die or be with him when he is dying, that is not okay.”
Teresa Agustin, a parent whose child attends Commodore, wrote on Facebook Sunday that when she would pick her son up from school, Byrd “was always there early waiting for his own son” to come out. “He offered a welcoming smile and I’ve always waved back,” Agustin said, sharing a GoFundMe that was started for Byrd’s family.
In the description, Byrd is described as a devoted father whose “greatest love was his son, who was holding his hand in the moments before this tragedy occurred,” according to the school’s Parent Club Organization, which launched the GoFundMe. “This senseless act of violence has left us all deeply shocked and heartbroken,” the group said.
Local prosecutors are currently reviewing evidence to determine what charges are warranted for Byrd’s alleged killer. San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said Friday that her office will announce charges in the coming days.
“We do ask for your patience in allowing us to review all of the evidence that still needs to be collected as well as what has already been collected,” Jenkins told reporters. “We do still have outstanding witness interviews that need to happen so that we can make a comprehensive decision about what to do going forward.”
PURE EVIL
Chilling moment killer calmly eats McDonald’s with his step-grandchildren after stabbing their mum and dad to death
Chilling footage showed killer confessing to police
Holly Christodoulou , Assistant Head of News (Courts)
Published: 11:54, 24 Oct 2025
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Updated: 16:58, 24 Oct 2025
Moment mum has breakfast with stepdad hours before ‘he murdered her & husband’PauseUnmuteFullscreenClose
THIS is the chilling moment a killer calmly eats McDonald’s with his step-grandchildren just hours after murdering their mum and dad.
Derek Martin, 67, beat his stepdaughter Chloe Bashford, 30, with a hammer before stabbing her multiple times.
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When her husband Josh, 33, arrived home from work, Martin chased him up the stairs and knifed him four times.
Martin then calmly picked up the couple’s four children, who called him “grandad”, from school and took them to Costa.
Footage released today also shows him with the children in a McDonald’s following the horror.
He later made his way to a police station where he told officers: “I’ve murdered two people”.
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Martin has now been found guilty of murder following a trial at Lewes Crown Court.
There were gasps from the family as the verdicts were delivered but Martin remained emotionless.
Jurors heard on the morning of June 9, 2023, Chloe had dropped her children off at school before meeting Martin.
video showed the pair ordering breakfast with Martin at a carvery restaurant in Peacehaven, East Sussex.
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He then drove Chloe to Sainsbury’s to pick up some shopping.
Just hours later, Martin launched into the frenzied attack after claiming he “flipped” when the subject of money came up.
Julian Evans KC, prosecuting, said: “Chloe and Joshua were attacked and killed in quick succession. Both attacks took place inside their home address.
“Chloe was attacked first. When she was attacked, Chloe and Derek Martin were in the house together. Josh was not there. He was about to arrive at home.
“He attacked Chloe with a hammer. He hit her with the hammer on the top of her head. Then he went to the kitchen to retrieve a large knife. Having done so, he repeatedly stabbed Chloe with that knife causing severe injuries from which she died.
“He stabbed her eight times, to the upper back and to the abdomen. Two stab wounds penetrated to a depth of about 20cm. The knife caused severe injuries from which Chloe died.
“A few minutes later, at about 12:20, Josh arrived home. Just after he entered the house, Derek Martin attacked him.”
Jurors heard Martin attacked Josh first with a knife – stabbing him four times – before strangling him.
After the horror, the pensioner attempted to clean up the scene of the crime and changed his clothes.
He then picked up the four children – telling the eldest that his parents had a “big row” – before taking them to Costa Coffee.
Martin later drove the youngsters to his ex-wife Elaine Sturges’ house – Chloe’s mum – in Brighton and dropped them off.
The court heard although he had split with Elaine many years before, Chloe still referred to Martin as her stepdad.
Martin messaged Elaine: “Elaine I’m so sorry, I can’t believe what I’ve done, I know everyone hates me anyway especially the boys, I hate myself anyway and please, please look after the children really well.
“I’m just about to walk into the police station then that’s my days over and good job too, I know it’s going to mean nothing but I’m so sorry, don’t take the children home x.”
Footage later showed Martin walking into a police station where a uniformed officer asks him: “What’s happened today?”
Martin replies: “I’ve killed two people.”
He then replies “anxiety and depression” after being asked if he suffers from any mental health problems.
When the officer asks him what caused a wound on his right hand, Martin replies: “A knife.”
Later, Martin can be seen asking the cops to arrest him because “there’s two people dead”.
He told police in his interview that he felt he was getting “used” by people all of the time and had got into a lot of debt.
The court heard he had a gambling habit and had turned to burglary to raise money to help Josh and Chloe out.
Martin claimed there was “a bit of a screaming match” with Chloe before the horror.
He said to her, “I want my f*****g money”. She said, “Well don’t bother with us anymore.”
The court heard when Josh came into the house, he began to shout, “Where’s Chloe?”
Martin told police: “I still had the knife in my hand. That was when I must have stabbed him, I don’t remember, there was too much shouting, it all happened so quick.”
When asked why he attacked him, Martin said: “Because he saw I had the knife in my hand, he was screaming, he came towards me and said where is f******g Chloe. I just lost it.”
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Martin, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter due to diminished responsibility but denied murder, will be sentenced in November.
