Homicide of 14-Year-Old on Folsom Street (Updated)

Updated at 5:30 p.m.: Police have made an arrest in connection to yesterday’s homicide. Police said the suspect is also a juvenile.

Rashawn Williams, a 14-year-old student at Sacred Heart Preparatory, was killed Tuesday evening after being stabbed on Folsom Street near the corner of 26th, according to police. After leaving Rubin’s Market on the corner, Williams was stabbed by another boy, who witnesses say was Williams’ age.  

After the altercation, Williams’ mother took him to St. Luke’s Hospital, after which paramedics rushed him to San Francisco General Hospital, where he was shortly pronounced dead from stab wounds.

Abdulwahab Alshami, owner of Rubin’s Market, said Williams was a frequent customer who had come into the store Tuesday evening with two younger brothers, ages 10 and 6. Once the boys bought their candy and snacks they stepped outside, where Alshami says two other boys were waiting.

“One boy had a knife and that one boy stabbed him and then they ran away” Alshami said. “Everything happened fast.”

The police are actively investigating the crime, and no arrests have been made. Those who knew Williams say that his attackers did so out of a personal feud that stemmed from incidents of online bullying.

“It was started out of jealousy,” said Williams’ uncle Elwood MacMurray, who said the attackers had a personal grudge against his nephew.

Williams had just started his freshman year at Sacred Heart Preparatory and, by many accounts, was thriving. He was 4.0 student, enjoyed playing football, soccer, and basketball but also he often could be found with his face in a book—the Harry Potter series was a favorite.

Janay Jones, one of Williams’ cousins, came into Rubin’s Market following the killing and said she couldn’t believe what happened.

“He didn’t get into any trouble…I know his dad is going crazy,” Jones said.

“He was a really good kid, good at sports, he had a scholarship to Sacred Heart,” MacMurray said. “But he was very humble and quiet.”

Williams, who lived in the Outer Mission, was the oldest of four siblings and, according to MacMurray, was like a second father to them.

“His little sister was only 18 months old, and he took care of the baby,” MacMurray said. “He was so responsible…he had a very bright future.”

In the very near future, MacMurray had just gotten Williams an after-school job working at an auto-body shop, but he “didn’t get a chance to tell him the good news.”

Rashawn Williams had participated in a Mission Local reporting workshop taught once a week during a semester in 2012 at Buena Vista Horace Mann Middle School.

Two of the reporters who volunteered to teach the workshop, Andrea Valencia and Molly Roy, knew Rashawn.

During the class, students were asked what topics are of their interest.

Andrea Valencia remembers that Williams was one of the kids who raised his hand and explained that he wanted to discuss racism and that a way to do so was by talking about the reelection of President Obama, a recent topic in 2012.

Other topics students suggested were the end of the world, and the World Series win of the Giants.

When practicing how to take photos of people, Rashawn loved making either very serious faces or very funny faces for the camera.

You can see Rashawn share his thoughts about the world below:

Newscat at Buena Vista Horace Mann from Mission Local on Vimeo.

Yesterday, there was also a bank robbery at around 4 p.m. near Church and 24th. A man entered a local bank and handed over a note to the teller saying he had a gun and demanded money. The teller handed over currency and the man fled on foot. No arrests were made.

We’ll update this page when we have more information about either crime. If you’d like to share information with the police you can do so anonymously by calling the Mission Station’s tip line at 415-552-4558.

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.