Giants World Series Win Erupts Into Mission Mayhem

Updated October 30, 11:43 a.m.

As soon as the Giants won their third Word Series in five years Wednesday night, the Mission went wild. While it began jovial enough with an impromptu parade down 24th Street and the crowds filling BART plazas, the celebration led to significant violence.

Fans set multiple bonfires along Mission Street. One person was injured by a stray bullet from celebratory gunshot. Another person was stabbed in the abdomen near 24th and Valencia. Following the mayhem, a young woman was stabbed at 17th and Valencia early Thursday morning. At least one police officer was injured and sent to the hospital. That’s only what became apparent early this morning. We may not know the full extent of the damage until later today.

Immediately after the final pop fly in the Game 7 of the Giants tense series with the Kansas City Royals, fans in the Mission took to the street. Cars honked, flags waved, low-riders bumped along 24th Street. A dance party broke out at the 24th Street BART, Loco Bloco bust out their drums. Fireworks burst over Shotwell Street.

As the night progressed and the crowds along Mission Street grew, the party veered towards mayhem. A little before 9 p.m. someone near the corner of 19th and Mission set a couch on fire. It would be the site of many more fires as the night progressed.

By 9:30 p.m., a bystander was struck by a stray bullet near the corner of 21st and Valencia. Someone was shooting a gun into the air when it hit them. The victim was rushed to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. As far as we know, the gun-toting Giants fan is still at large. Bay City News also reports another gunshot victim who walked into San Francisco General with a bullet wound.

At 22nd and Mission, fans ignited two fires. Some threw fireworks into the flames for big explosions, to the screams of “Let’s Go Giants.” A sideshow of careening cars twirled at top speed at South Van Ness and 24th Streets and as every vehicle on Valencia, Mission, 24th and 16th paraded down the streets, flags aflutter, the crowd cheered them on, getting louder as the night went on.

Riot police were present from the start of the evening. A little after 10 p.m. they surged onto Mission Street and pushed the crowd away from the fires. The crowd was notably hostile towards the police. Chants of “Fuck the police” escalated to glass bottles flying through the air, some landing on officers’ heads.

At around 11 p.m., one person was stabbed multiple times near the corner of 24th and Valencia. According to a statement by Officer Gordon Shyy, the injuries are said to be serious and the victim is currently at San Francisco General Hospital.

Nearby on Valencia and 22nd Street, a group of four young men hit another fan on top of the head with a glass bottle. The man fell to the ground and one of the suspects took the man’s wallet. The group fled the scene and the man suffered head wounds and went to a San Francisco General.

At around midnight, riot teams began a sweep on Mission and 24th Streets that pushed the crowd off the street. Several police vehicles, trailed by a water car, slowly moved up Mission Street. As they sprayed the charred and garbage strewn streets, they attempted to disperse an angry crowd off Mission Street.

“This is an unlawful assembly,” an officer warned through a megaphone in one of the police vehicles, “Anyone who doesn’t get off the street will be arrested.”

Pushed off Mission, much of the crowd swarmed Valencia Street. Groups set fires on 19th and 23rd Street, among other places. A garbage contained burned on Bartlett Street behind the Vida condo construction.

The riot police continued to push the crowd off the street, even as many climbed to the top of MUNI shelters. By 12:30 a.m., the streets were mostly clear, traffic passed through Mission Street once more. The broken glass had been cleared away even as the smoke still hung in the air.

But even as the crowds subsided, violence continued into the evening. A little before 3 a.m., one 20-year-old woman came up behind a 19-year-old on the corner of 17th and Valencia. She stabbed the other woman in the back of the head. The suspect also pepper sprayed her victim and bit her in the shoulder before fleeing the scene. Police report that the victim of the stabbing is in non-life-threatening condition at San Francisco General.

Whether or not this celebration was more intense than the celebration-turned-riot of 2012 or 2010 before it, we can’t really say. We can say that police are reporting at least 36 arrests across the city, at least 6 in the Mission. There were also 36 in 2012.

Mark Rabine, Andrea Valencia and Lydia Chávez contributed to this report.

Correction:The original number of 2014 arrests published has been modified based on updates from the police department.