Three masked suspects, guns pulled, entered a bar on the 400 block of Potrero Avenue at 1:45 a.m. Saturday and ordered patrons to get on the ground while one of the suspects robbed the place, according to a police report.

“One of the victims reported that they were standing there and then all of a sudden someone came in yelling for them to drop to the ground,” said SFPD spokesperson Albie Esparza.

All of the men were dressed in black, wore masks and brandished handguns, he said.

Some 10 people were in the bar at the time of the robbery, Esparza said.

While two of the suspects kept the patrons guarded and on the floor, the third suspects stole the tip jar and cash from the register.

The suspect also asked one victim to hand turn out his pockets and took what cash he had.  In addition some credit cards were taken, Esparza said.

After stealing one more purse, all three suspects fled.   Witnesses told police that the robbers drove off in a maroon, four-door sedan.

The victims were listed as a 37-year-old man and a 45-year-old woman and included the bar’s owner, a bar tender and one customer.  In addition there were the seven witnesses being held on the ground.

We are still following up trying to get more details.  The only bar in the 400 block has the sign Sadie’s Flying Elephant outside, but the name has been changed to the Mission Hill Saloon. The bartender on duty today said he had no knowledge of the robbery.  We are still trying to contact the owner.

If anyone has any more information, please let us know at missionlocal@gmail.com

UPDATE August 13: A person with the username shubacca left a comment on Mission Mission linking to a Gofundme.com campaign to raise money for Caitlin, one of the patrons who was at the bar when it got robbed. “On top of having a gun held to her temple, Caitlin was robbed of everything on her, I.D., keys, and the $600 cash she had just gotten paid. As she put it, she is both “broken and broke” from the experience,” reads the post. The campaign has already exceeded the $650 goal having raised $1,040.

Crime is trauma and the county offers different services. Here is a link to a page of services.

Victims of violent crime can contact the Trauma Recover Center at UCSF.

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Founder/Executive Editor. I’ve been a Mission resident since 1998 and a professor emeritus at Berkeley’s J-school since 2019 when I retired. I got my start in newspapers at the Albuquerque Tribune in the city where I was born and raised. Like many local news outlets, The Tribune no longer exists. I left daily newspapers after working at The New York Times for the business, foreign and city desks. Lucky for all of us, it is still there.

As an old friend once pointed out, local has long been in my bones. My Master’s Project at Columbia, later published in New York Magazine, was on New York City’s experiment in community boards.

Right now I'm trying to figure out how you make that long-held interest in local news sustainable. The answer continues to elude me.

Andrea hails from Mexico City and lives in the Mission where she works as a community interpreter. She has been involved with Mission Local since 2009 working as a translator and reporter.

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    1. Dottore: That is still the sign on the front so to patrons, that is what it is still called. Best, Lydia

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