In The Know / A Look at the Week Ahead

The bodies of a man, woman and two young girls were found shot to death Sunday morning in a neat taupe stucco home in a quiet neighborhood here, police said.

Officers said the bodies were found at 9:45 a.m., but they would not identify the victims, nor would they say when the shootings occurred. They also refused to disclose whether the deaths were a murder-suicide or whether the victims were shot by an intruder.

“A family member had not heard from them for a few days, became concerned, came out and found the bodies,” said San Francisco Police Lt. Judie Pursell. “Right now we’re looking at everyone. We don’t know what happened here.”

As the bodies were carried out on stretchers, and two cars were towed away as evidence, neighbors in the compact St. Mary’s Park community milled around in the sunshine and worried.

“This really is the safest neighborhood,” neighbor Dennis Billingsley kept repeating. “Everyone practically knows everyone at least visually. Just nothing goes on here.”

Neighbors identified the victims as Anthony and Anna Shami and their two daughters, ages 15 and 9, Catholic school students often spotted coming and going in their school uniforms.

Property records show that Anthony Shami, 35, and Anna Shami bought the two-bedroom home built in 1926 four years ago.

Anthony, his neighbors said, worked for a Budweiser beer distributorship and belonged to a motorcycle club--the Hells Angels, some said. Anna was a travel agent. The couple used to own a neighborhood coffee shop called Progressive Grounds.

They were quiet, they were friendly, they were dues-paying members of the St. Mary’s Park Improvement Club. Anna, they said, belonged to the Neighborhood Watch group.

Anthony Shami “was proud of the fact that he was the only Palestinian Hells Angel,” said one neighbor, who requested anonymity. “They were just sweethearts, very friendly, always willing to help out.”

Mary Ramirez, secretary of the neighborhood group, said the couple would often advertise their businesses in the neighborhood newsletter.

“They were a nice family,” she said. “I was shocked to see this happen. He was never any trouble. We never saw any signs of domestic violence. The girls seemed happy, well-adjusted.”

Some neighbors described seeing members of a motorcycle club outside the house early Sunday morning. Anthony Shami would regularly ride his Harley-Davidson on the weekends with friends.

Anna Contreras, president of the neighborhood association, said she heard four gunshots about 6 a.m., but she’s a light sleeper and St. Mary’s Park abuts the busier Mission district, where there is regular police activity. The shots, she said, could have come from there.

Contreras was saddened by the deaths, but on Sunday, she also was worried about her neighborhood, and was trying to keep speculation at bay and hoping for calm.

“The officers have been very quiet about it,” Contreras said. “They haven’t let us know anything so far--murder-suicide, or if someone entered the home and shot them.”