what investigators said and didn't say. >> reporter: we're at fair okays and 24th street the location of the most recent attack. police have announced they arrested a man who's been terrorizing women here. police say they've arrested a man seen on this surveillance tape for violent attacks on three women. each was assaulted and robbed. the first attack was in june on 24th and south van nuys. followed by a second attack on 24th and potrero. then on fair oaks. >> it is shocking to know this is happening on the sidewalks. >> reporter: a citizen's tip led them to the 32-year-old suspect. police arrested him at 4:30 this afternoon at this public housing complex. dna evidence links the three cases. each attack occurred in the early morning hours. and was carried out in a similar manner. >> they were walking down the street by themselves, they were usually approached from behind and thrown to the ground. there was some physical violence. >> reporter: police did not release his identity. -- >> every time we would leave the house they would say, who's going with you. >> reporter: this woman was terrorized since the attacks. we told her about the news. >> i walk home every day. my friends walk home, it's very uncomfortable. >> reporter: police say the suspect will face sexual assault, kidnapping and robbery charges. they are still looking at whether he's responsible for other attacks. reporting live in san francisco, amber lee, ktvu channel 2 news. and later tonight, a big reward in another san francisco case. one that's gone cold. the clues in the killing of a 20-year-old man, the message from his mother at 10:35 tonight. hundreds of people attended funeral services today for a 5- year-old boy who was shot and killed last week outside his father's taco truck in oakland. eric rasmussen talked to his father tonight he's now at the scene of the crime with family members gathered this evening. >> reporter: there's still a police presence here tonight. family members told me they wanted to send a message they are not afraid. there's a very large gathering here today. even though investigators don't yet have a suspect, the father of little gabriel martinez says he knows there are people out there who can help find his killer. >> reporter: a mariachi band played 5-year-old gabriel martinez jr.'s favorite song just feet from where he was shot. >> reporter: in spanish, his father told us he neverfelt pain like this. in english he also said why he was frustrated. >> do you know somebody knows who did this. >> probably, probably somebody knows. and i know a couple of people that i believe they know who is it. >> reporter: oakland police have released new details about the shooting outside the martinez family's taco truck last week. only that they are looking for a man and woman who drove off in a silver american sedan. family members believe the killer might have even bought food from the taco truck before shooting little gabriel in this taco truck. hundreds came out for the boy's funeral. including one of his teachers. >> gabriel was a wonderful child. he loved. >> reporter: tonight his father pleaded for help to find his son's killer. >> put more attention in the community. i don't want anything to happen to anyone what happened to me. >> reporter: he says that the 20 years he's been in business he may have been robbed hundreds of types, but he insists he does not think what happened to his son is retribution for any confrontations he's had with people in the past. we're live here in oakland, eric rasmussen, ktvu news. the three young children killed in oakland over the past five months will be honored a week from tomorrow at two oakland churches. the tower of faith ministry are each holding a save our babies block party. the two events will honor carlos nava and 23-year-old harum lawrence jr. along with gabriel martinez jr. both of those events are scheduled from 11:00 to 5:00 january 15th. a judge sentenced an antioch woman to life in prison for the torture of his niece and nephew. the body of 15-year-old jasmine davis was found in her home. the girl had been beaten, burned and starved. her twin brother survived similar abuse and testified at the trial saying the abuse had gone on for years. davis could be eligible for parol in 28 years. police in richmond police said violent crime in their city fell for a 22nd year. violent crime dropped by 14% in 2011 compared to the previous year. armed robbery dropped 33%. carjacking fell by 35% and attempted robbery by 65%. the number of homicides did increase however from 21 to 26. a new jobs report released today is offering some fresh evidence of a strengthening u.s. economy. the labor department says the nation's unemployment rate dropped to 8.5% in december. that is the lowest number in almost three years. a year ago, it has stood at 9.4%. 50,000 people stopped looking for work. in this job market it's always a matter of perspective as our consumer editor tom vacar found out today in contra costa county. >> reporter: a few weeks ago, katie william was looking for work right here at the one stop center. today she was recruiting for her new employer california home pro. >> i think the industry is turning around. my company is hiring, you know 60 or 70 more telemarketers. >> things have been getting slower and slower for my kind of work. >> reporter: for layed off construction worker, melotini. the downturn goes on. >> not only me but i have other friends and other people that i do know that work is just slowing down and more people are losing jobs. >> reporter: the head of contra costa county's work force development force thinks we've mostly bottomed out. >> we're now seeing some signs of stabilization. we're seeing some good things or better things happening out there in the private-sector and by way of picking up and demand. >> reporter: unfortunately because the state can't get its financial house in order, the one the once solid rock bastian is not. >> keep status quo if not shut down some of its workers. >> reporter: meaning hundreds of thousands of californians will still have to reinvent themselves. >> anybody can make the world we want to make it. if you have a negative attitude things aren't going to go too well. that's what i find. so if i have a positive attitude you get up early in the morning and get to work and work hard good things are going to happen to you. >> reporter: the unemployment rate would have been worse but for the fact that those looking for work have retired or just gave up. meaning they're no longer counted. wall street for if most part ignored the encouraging numbers today. the dow sank 55 points, the nasdaq gained four. for the week, the first week of the year the markets closed up. in 15 minutes, president obama's take on today's economic news and how it's playing on the campaign trail with republicans critical of administration policies. san francisco's economy is getting a boost from high tech companies sales force.com. today it signed one of the largest office deals in the city in a decade. sales force.com is leasing 400,000 square feet at 50 fremont street. it's an 18 year deal and gives work space for about 2,000 workers. sales force is already building a new campus in mission bay. the dry weather and lack of snow in the sierra are having an impact on bay area business that cater to winter activities. december was one of the driest on record for parts of lake tahoe and without snow there's no point to buy equipment to go skiing. some resorts are making snow to compensate for what mother nature will not supply. we stopped at a ski shop and the owner says the business is definitely down with some areas worse than others. >> our hardware sails on the big ticket items, our boots and skis aren't off very much. but those little things that you don't realize you need until you go skiing. >> reporter: we did find one business that's benefited from the unseasonably warm weather. workers at a bike shop told us they've seen an up tick in customers. beach lovers spotted big waves before a high surf advisory expired just about four hours ago. the national weather service reported swells as high as 16 feet along with rip tides and rogue waves. a similar advisory is set for the coast, that advisory is set to end tomorrow morning. coming up at 10:30, tonight's opening ceremony for the big wave surf competition. so why isn't the contest actually starting? accused of shoplifting, a bay area assemblywoman faces a judge. her plea and the medical condition offered as a defense. and your bay area weekend is here. i'm back here in 10 minutes, we go right to the bay area saturday and show you how warm it'll be on your afternoon and then your bay area forecast. [people chatting] everyone, it's $37 a piece. paying with your smart phone instead of cash. that's a step forward. with chase person-to-person quickpay, you can send money directly to your friend's checking account. all you need is their email address or mobile number. don't worry honey, i'll show you. thanks everyone. so take a step forward... and chase what matters. i built it to give people a taste of my newly revamped it's calclassics.unchie mobile. i've got a 100% beef patty that's seasoned while it cooks. it makes my jumbo jack, ultimate cheeseburger, and sourdough jack better than ever. real tasty. crazy good. insane. this is good. really, really good. juicy as hell (beep). new at 10:00, in walnut creek tonight they are remembering those who were killed and wounded including congresswoman giffords one year ago in arizona. ktvu's debra villalon is live in city hall where they admit that kind of violence could happen everywhere. >> reporter: and it has happened. we've seen more wounded since. >> eight people killed, three people wounded. >> reporter: that was the toll in a hair salon shooting in seal beach in october. the same month as in a quarry. >> three people killed, seven people wounded. >> reporter: tonight a few dozen protesters lit candles and demanded stricter national gun laws in a city where shootings are rare. near by skaters jammed a holiday ice rink. the activists wished younger people would join them but -- >> sadly people start to become dessenstized to that. they grew up in a world with something we did not grow up. >> reporter: unlike arizona, california gun buyers have more background checks and can't carry guns openly. next up a bill making it mandatory to tell police when guns go missing. >> that doesn't seem like overreaching to me. that just seems like good public policy. you want public safety people to know that something has been lost or stolen. >> reporter: desonye says his father committed suicide with a gun he shouldn't have had. sadly, too common a story. >> my mother used a gun to commit suicide when i was 13. they didn't do any background checks. she had already been hospitalized for attempting suicide and she was able to buy a gun with no questions asked. >> reporter: the actual anniversary of the tucson shooting spree is the eighth, sunday and that night another vigil will be held in san francisco at yerba buena gardens. debra villalon. ktvu channel 2 news. at ktvu.com we posted information about local events commemorating the tucson shooting. just look for the web link section. it's on the right hand side of the home page. a u.s. navy destroyer came to the rescue of iranian fishermen captured by pirates. the u.s. navy released video. it shows the pirates with their arms raised ready to surrender to the u.s. navy. the iranians said their boat had been taken over by pirates in november. >> the u.s. navy took the iran iranians on board. they provided them with food and water. >> reporter: the men came home wearing navy baseball caps. and the boat's captain thanked the rescuers. police say gary gray and pettiwood fired their gun along nine street. s. - - ninth street. the men were finally arrested around 1:00 a.m. >> it appears that it probably was going to be an act of just, they were shooting out randomly. doesn't appear anyone was targeted. >> reporter: police aren't saying if drugs or alcohol played a role in the incident. no one was hurt. in oakland police tonight were responding to a call about an assault on a female. when the situation got a little complicated. police say they were called to a home on 64th avenue and bromley avenue shortly before 5:00 p.m. when they tried to subdue a suspect there was a tussle and they tasered him. then another family member jump into the fray and was tasered as well. a bay area assemblywoman is on probation after pleading not guilty to shoplifting. her defense says a medical condition is to blame for her lapse in judgment. >> reporter: state assemblywoman yayashi appeared in court to face a felony shoplifting charge. her foreign said a serious medical condition caused her bizarre behavior and affected her judgment. >> she's been diagnosed with a brain tumor. however, fortunately for her it's benign and it can be taken care of and addressed with medication. >> reporter: hayashi allegedly stole $2,500 from this neiman marcus store. the arrest shocked constituents. >> the fact that her medical condition may have impacted their decision to lower this case to a misdemeanor. >> reporter: a neiman marcus spokeswoman declined comment. >> she is a first time offender, she has no other criminal record. so what she did is unexcusable and she needs to be held accountable for her actions. i think we need to explore all the actions. >> reporter: hayashi declined comment but her spokesperson says she is currently being treated with medication. the movement has put out what it calls the occupied oakland tribune. since it uses a name of the oakland tribune and a picture of the tower, the paper says it's a trademark infringement. the new york times has come out with a list of 45 places to go this year and number five is oakland. the paper says tensions have cooled since the occupy oakland. they've restored fox theater and there's new sophisticated restaurants. and the city is a place to go in the dark. you see a few clouds out there, a beautiful day today friday. temperatures a little cooler. we saw a lot of upper 50s and low 60s. daytime highs tomorrow they're going to be warmer as we head into saturday. mid-60s. even some uner 60s. a little bit of patchy valley fog but not ground fog. not a lot of it. as we head into tomorrow, we can look forward to a little fog but also temperatures that are easily going to make it into the mid-60s. so a warm day for your saturday. sunday we'll talk about when we come back and we'll get right to the five day forecast when we get back. we'll look at the five day forecast and look at the rain out there. a central valley congressman nunez is proposing to increase the cost to renting to reservoir to $30,000 a year. that's more than they're currently paying which is $25,000 a year. how a hot air balloon crash killed four people today. >> th -dad, why are you getting that? -that's my cereal. is there a prize in there? oh, there's a prize, all right. is it a robot? no. is it a jet plane? nope. is it a dinosaur? [ laughs ] [ male announcer ] inside every box of heart healthy cheerios are those great tasting little o's made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholesterol. stickers? uh-uh. a superhero? ♪ kinda. [ male announcer ] and we think that's the best prize of all. ♪ a lexus plowed into the children's art studio. it happened at about 8:30 this morning on yee studio. police say a 56-year-old fremont woman was trying to park when she went over a curb and through the studio's front window. the art studio was closed at the time. the driver was injured but not seriously hurt. in new zealand a hot air balloon caught fire and crashed today killing at 11 people on board. the balloon came down just north of the town of cartegen. witnesses reported seeing flames shooting 30 feet from the balloons basket. the balloon then fell to the ground. it appears the balloon hit power lines before catching on fire. five couples were on board along with the pilot. the tractor trailer crashed into a frozen creek. the driver was on interstate 94 when he lost control and plowed into the water. he was able to escape and crawl across the ice to safety. he was then taken to a hospital where he was treated and released. it's an election year and conventional wisdom predicts that a boosting economy will help president campaign's election. will republicans need to change their strategy? ktvu's rob roth reports. >> reporter: the economy has been president barack obama's achilles heel but not today. >> all together more private- sector jobs were created in 2011 than any year since 2005. there are a lot of people that are still -- >> reporter: campaigning in south carolina republican hopeful mitt romney said the 8.5 national unemployment rate is no cause for celebration. >> this president doesn't understand how this economy works. it's time to get a president who does. >> reporter: but is good news about the economy back feud for republicans who have been hammering their president for what they say is an inability to create jobs. >> they may want to have a better message but simply hammering that the president won't show results. because the president right now is showing results. >> reporter: but the chairwoman of the san francisco republican party says the president is still vulnerable. >> jobs, the economy, the regulatory burden of the deficit are absolutely critical factors and sitting from where i'm sitting sit -- right now in january, those topics are still critical. >> reporter: that would give president obama a huge boost in his bid for reelection. in berkeley, rob roth, ktvu channel 2 news. it's been serving locals and tourists since the 30s. now a san francisco bar is being forced out of its prime location. car companies are upping the ante every year with new technologies features in their vehicles, we'll show you what's new. supporters of a petition [ male announcer ] for some reason those five food groups sound a whole lot better when you put them in a taco shell instead of a pyramid. old el paso. when you gotta have mexican. fantastic! pro-gresso ] they fit! okay-y... okay??? i've been eating progresso and now my favorite old jeans...fit. okay is there a woman i can talk to? 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(man) register today for the... and receive $25 off your registration fee. because everyone deserves a lifetime. the 49ers are denying it but a local union says that the team asked them to hire workers to try and persuade people from signing a referendum against the new stadium in santa clara. lloyd lacuesta is here and says there's conflicting opinion on how the workers would do that. >> reporter: this is the site of the great american amusement mark where the raiders want to build a $1 billion stadium. but stadium opponents say the game is not over. >> if it was such a bad idea it wouldn't happen in the first place, right. >> reporter: a new group called santa clara plays fair need to collect 5,000 signatures in the next week. it's trying to qualify a referendum that seeks to have the city rescind a loan to build a stadium or that the public vote. now an electrical workers union has entered the fray. ibwe local 332 today posted on its website quote we've been asked by the 49ers to generate 10 to 20 individuals to act as interceptors. the union said it would pay interceptors $100 f