Feds charge Hayward man ID'd through Instagram in viral sideshow photo
Federal prosecutors claim that Christopher Gonzalez-Nunez, 26, was driving this Cadillac during the 2021 sideshow where this viral Bay Area photo was taken. His passenger is seen holding a gun. (Northern District California Court Records)
SAN FRANCISCO - U.S. attorneys have identified the Hayward man who they allege was driving a Cadillac in what became a viral photo of a San Francisco sideshow, where his girlfriend was seen hanging out the window of the car holding a mini AK-47, the wind whipping her hair.
Earlier this month, federal prosecutors identified the driver as 26-year-old Christopher Gonzalez-Nunez, who they say has ties to the Norteño gang, and said the woman in the picture – released by San Francisco police in 2021 – was his "significant other."
The identification of the pair was solved because the photo went viral and people tagged the couple on Instagram, federal agents said.
"Not only does the car match a vehicle that Gonzalez-Nunez owned at the time, but Instagram users ‘tagged’ him in photos from the incident and mentioned him by name," Assistant U.S. Attorney Leif Dautch wrote in a legal motion. "Perhaps most tellingly, Gonzalez-Nunez posted a photo on his Instagram account of what appears to be him wearing a t-shirt depicting his significant other leaning out of his car holding the gun."
Gonzalez-Nuñez later posted a photo of himself on Instagram wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the viral image, prosecutors allege.
Gonzalez-Nunez’s case is separate from the photo.
On Aug. 11, he was charged with being a felon in possession of three guns and ammunition — including two unserialized pistols — that were allegedly found during a raid of his Hayward home.
The affidavit says FBI agents witnessed Gonzalez-Nunez coming from the backyard.
When they went to investigate the area in which he had been seen, they found a backpack and a grocery bag that had been discarded over a fence in the rear of his home.
The charging document says Alameda County Sheriff's Office asked the neighbor, whose yard where the items were thrown, if they had left any bags along the fence line. The neighbor told officials those bags were not theirs.
Agents recovered three firearms and assorted ammunition inside the backpack.
Large capacity "drum" magazines were found in the plastic grocery bag, the document says. Among the weapons were a pistol, a handgun and a Glock-style handgun. Among the contents of these items were 25 rounds of loose ammunition, records show.
The affidavit claims the firearms and evidence are connected to Gonzalez-Nunez in several ways, including DNA evidence.
Receipts connecting the defendant to the firearms were also found in his bedroom, prosecutors said. Other occupants of the home denied ownership of the items found in Gonzalez-Nunez's bedroom.
Other weapons paraphernalia were found in Gonzalez-Nunez's bedroom, including a firearm sight adjustment tool and a wrench used for assembling or modifying rifles, prosecutors said.
In an Aug. 18 motion to keep Gonzalez-Nunez jailed while the charges are pending, the prosecutor wrote that Gonzalez-Nunez is a member of the San Francisco Mission District Norteños.
A judge has not yet ruled on the motion to keep Gonzalez-Nunez jailed, but is scheduled to do so at a Sept. 8 court hearing, records show.
He remains in federal custody at Santa Rita Jail. If convicted of all charges, he faces up to 15 years in federal prison.
