Skateboarding icon Eric Swenson dies in suicide

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Skateboard business icon Eric Swenson, co-founder of the magazine Thrasher who reinvigorated the sidewalk surfing craze in the late 1970s with his Independent Trucks equipment firm, has died in San Francisco.

Police say the 64-year-old Swenson shot himself to death on Monday in front of the Mission police station.

The San Francisco Chronicle says Independent Trucks made a high-quality truck, the metal connector between the skateboard and its wheels that enabled moves necessary for jumps and tricks.

Swenson and friend Fausto Vitello opened the manufacturing company in San Francisco in 1978.

Three years later, Swenson, Vitello and Kevin Thatcher co-founded skateboarding’s Thrasher magazine.

Swenson is survived by wife Linda McKay and sisters Rebekah Engle and Sonja Taylor, both of San Francisco.