San Francisco rapper arrested Thursday also wanted in Fairfield murder

By Adam Martin, Bay City News Service

March 4, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) - A San Francisco rapper arrested Thursday for allegedly shooting to death two Kansas City rappers in Las Vegas in May is also a suspect in a November slaying in Fairfield.

Andre "Mac Minister'' Dow, 35, was arrested Thursday without incident after the Federal Bureau of Investigations received information that he was in an apartment at 49 Townsend St., according to FBI spokeswoman Larae Quy.

Dow allegedly shot to death Anthony "Fat Tone'' Watkins, 24, and Jermaine "Cowboy'' Atkins, 21, in Las Vegas on May 23, according to the FBI.

San Francisco police Sgt. Neville Gittens said today that Dow is also a suspect in the Nov. 4 killing of Utah woman Lee Danae Laursen, 21, in Fairfield.

Dow was arrested on a warrant after the FBI received information of his whereabouts Thursday.

"It was a combination of technical and human intelligence that led us to him,'' Quy said. She did not confirm a report by the television show, America's Most Wanted, that one of its viewers provided Dow's whereabouts after he was featured on a Feb. 6 segment.

"It certainly could have been,'' Quy said.

"Dozens of officers and FBI agents,'' including a San Francisco Police Department tactical team, arrived at 49 Townsend St. around 6:30 p.m.,

Gittens said. Dow was arrested about an hour later.

"We approached the residence and announced ourselves. The female occupant refused to open the door,'' Quy said. "After a brief verbal standoff we gained entry and Dow was arrested without incident.''

Fairfield police refused to comment on the incident today.

According to a Nov. 4 news release from the Fairfield Police Department, Laursen was shot and killed in the 3500 block of Fieldcrest Avenue. Officers responding to calls about gunfire found Laursen in the street with a gunshot wound to the head.

She was pronounced dead at the scene.

On Nov. 1, 2004, Vallejo rapper Andre Hicks, known as Mac Dre, was shot to death in Kansas City while in town for a concert.

Kansas City police Officer Darinn Snapp said today that Watkins was a person of interest in that killing.

"Hicks' people picked up and left town without answering any questions about the case, so we couldn't identify Anthony as a suspect,'' Snapp said. Snapp said Atkins was not thought to be connected to Hicks' shooting.

On Nov. 1, 2005, at a Vallejo memorial recognizing the one-year anniversary of Hicks' death, gunfire erupted in the 100-strong crowd, leaving 21-year-old Michael Clint Banks dead with a gunshot wound to the neck.

According to the hip-hop Web site http://www.ballerstatus.net, a feud may be under way between Bay Area rappers and those in Kansas City.

Copyright © 2006 by Bay City News, Inc. -- Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.

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