Ex-SFO security guard convicted of murder
San Francisco CA September 20 2023
A former San Francisco International Airport employee accused of murdering the boyfriend of a co-worker in 2018 after she rejected his romantic advances was convicted Sept. 15 and could serve a life sentence, prosecutors said.
A jury found Kevin Prasad, 37, of South San Francisco guilty on all counts, including first-degree murder, firing into an occupied vehicle and lying in wait.
“Lying in wait is more colloquially known as ‘ambush,’” San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe told SFGATE. “It’s waiting for the right opportunity, and that’s just what they did. All due to the fact that he didn’t want this woman to leave and move away to Vegas.”
Prasad was convicted of shooting and killing Mark Mangaccat in April 2018 after he followed Mangaccat and his girlfriend home from SFO. Prosecutors said that Mangaccat’s girlfriend repeatedly refused Prasad’s romantic advances. Mangaccat and his girlfriend also worked at the airport.
“She maintained that they never had anything going on. But when we downloaded everybody’s phone, there was some communication with Prasad,” Wagstaffe said. “This was a love triangle. And we do see homicides occurring in a triangle.”
Prasad was working as a security guard for Covenant Aviation Security at SFO. CAS contracts with SFO to supply ID checkers and bag handlers and is managed by the Transportation Security Administration.
Mangaccat and his girlfriend, whose name was never released publicly, parented a daughter together and were preparing to move to Las Vegas when Prasad followed them to Daly City. Prasad fired five or six shots into the vehicle, killing Mangaccat. The girlfriend was not hurt.
Hayward resident Donovan Matthew Rivera was accused of acting as the getaway driver for Prasad, earlier reports said. Police arrested Prasad and Rivera at Rivera’s home in Hayward on April 26, 2018. Both men were charged with murder.
Wagstaffe remarked on the length of time it took for the conviction, adding that the pandemic played a role, as did a changeover in attorneys.
“Five years is a long time, longer than we’d like to see,” he said. “But we ultimately got over the finish line to where we wanted.”
Prasad is scheduled to return to court for his sentencing on Nov. 17. Wagstaffe said he intends to push for a life sentence for Prasad.
