The man shot and killed Monday in San Francisco, allegedly by filmmaker Kevin Epps, was a registered sex offender with a two-decade history of domestic violence and drug abuse and who had just been released from custody after serving jail time on a parole violation, according to documents reviewed by NBC Bay Area.
Epps was arrested in the fatal shooting of Marcus D. Polk on Monday, but he was released Tuesday after the District Attorney's Office cited insufficient evidence to charge him with homicide.
Polk, 45, was freed on Oct. 19, after serving 12 days for a drug-related violation of his parole, court records show.
Polk has a criminal history that dates back to 1995, including lewd acts with a child, attempted robbery, domestic violence and auto theft, court records show.
Those records show that since 2012, Polk allegedly violated his release conditions about 30 times, including repeated allegations of drug use, removing his tracking device and failure to take part in sex offender therapy.
On Oct. 5, Polk told probation officials that he was under the influence of methamphetamine at the parole office in San Francisco. Court records show that the next day, his sex offender program clinician told parole officials that she was “concerned that the subject might pose a risk to public safety if he remained in the community, due to his substance abuse."
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The following day, Oct. 7, Polk was arrested at the parole office in San Francisco for parole violation due to drug use. After a hearing on Oct. 19, he was freed by Judge Gerardo Sandoval, given credit for time served.
The parole agent’s report concluded that Polk’s “parole adjustment has been dismal and frequently sabotaged by his repeated use of methamphetamine.”
“Polk has demonstrated he is unwilling to comply with his terms and in response to his behavior, poses an unreasonable risk to the safety of the public,” his parole evaluator concluded, asking that he sent back into custody for 60 days. In the end, the judge freed him with more parole restrictions after he was jailed for 12 days.
Polk’s son, Marcus Polk Jr., said he was not there when his father was killed.
“I think based on history, there was a lot of anger in the person who did this,” Polk Jr. said. “My dad, he made a lot of jokes at other people’s expense. There was never any hostility; he was going to point out the uncomfortable truths, and that happened, according to what I’ve been told. And the person who did this, he had enough, I guess. And, while the guy’s back is turned to him, from what I’m told, he shot a man in the back.”
He said Epps is a relative, the father of his cousin.
Polk Jr. said his father had been “homeless for a while, "so he comes by, eats, doesn’t put money in or anything. ... But if you don’t like that, call the cops, have the guy exited from the building, but you don’t kill him, man.”
He went on to say his father, “wasn’t exactly living here, but he was here frequently.”
On what happened before the shooting, Polk Jr. said his father "showed up out of the blue ... and from what I was told, he made a comment of 'She doesn’t really like you.' I think that’s what did it. ... 'She doesn’t even like you.'"
