Shootings Leave SF Public Housing Residents in Fear

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Two shootings in five days have left many Bernal Dwellings residents fearing for their lives and anxious to move out of the neighborhood. 

At a time when demand for housing in the Mission has never been higher, the feeling is different at Bernal, a four-block complex of 167 public housing units between 26th and Cesar Chavez and Folsom and Harrison.

“I’m afraid for my family,” said a resident of 16 years whose window was shattered in one of the shootings. “It’s not safe around here, and we’re ready to move out of here.”  The resident, like many in this article, asked that his name not be used.

While some residents said violence has decreased overall during the last few years, others said that in the last few weeks there’s been a surprising uptick.

“Three years ago, everything was fine,” said the 16-year resident. “All of the sudden — chaos.”

“All the time here, it’s dangerous,” said Maria Jasso, who was taking care of an aunt who can’t afford to live anywhere else. “It’s getting better, in the last four years, but all the time it’s still dangerous.”

On Monday, September 7, at around 9 p.m., a 36-year-old man was grazed in the thigh and a 26-year-old man shot in the foot near Treat and Cesar Chavez.

“I was out there for like two minutes,” said another resident and victim who asked that his name not be used. At the time of the shooting, he was speaking to a friend parked just outside his Bernal Dwellings home. “That’s when the bullets went off. I closed [my friend’s car] door, and as soon as the gunshots went off I ran inside and realized that my foot had been shot.”

The three suspects, hooded and hatted men in their late teens or early 20s, were wielding two pistols and a shotgun. They were on foot and fired from down the street on Cesar Chavez. Police said a silver van was also involved, although it was unclear in what capacity.

Four days later, on Friday at 9:15 p.m., a man was shot outside his own front yard on the corner of Kamille Court and Treat Avenue when, after hearing what he assumed were fireworks, he was approached by a hooded man in his 20s and shot point-blank through the mouth with a pistol.

The victim managed to flee several blocks to Harrison and 26th, where he was picked up by an ambulance and, still able to speak, recounted the incident to police.

“Someone walked up to him and shot him, he was shot in the mouth” said police spokesperson Grace Gatpandan.

Separate investigations are underway for the two cases, she added, though they may be combined if links between them are found.

None of the three victims were in critical condition, though one of the victims, his foot in a bandage, is still on crutches

The sudden explosion of violence in such a short time has left residents fearing for their safety. Some would like to move out of Bernal Dwellings as soon as possible.

“That’s too close,” said one resident, referring to the sequence of shootings. “That is really too close.”

The Ebbs and Flows of Violence

Residents said the increase hardly matched earlier years.

“When we first lived here, there used to be shootings two times a month,” said the victim who was shot in the foot. “Lately you don’t hear much…In the whole Mission, you don’t see a lot of violence like I used to.”

Another resident said that even with the redevelopment in 2001, violence has been endemic in the neighborhood. 

“It’s always been violent. When I first moved here, I was here for maybe a month or so and then there was a shooting,” she said. “[Several years ago] I was driving into the complex and this guy walked by me and pulled out a gun and just started shooting, to another guy, right in front of us.”

She has also been affected by the recent violence. During the shooting on September 7, a bullet came through her window and landed on the kitchen table. It was the “first time a bullet ever came in my house,” she said.

“I was up in my room and all of the sudden, at nine or so, a lot of guns went off and a bullet just smashed my window,” her husband said. The bullet landed on the kitchen table, just feet from where his wife’s sister and her boyfriend lay sleeping.

“If they would’ve been up, they would’ve gotten hurt,” she said.

Another resident who asked that her name be withheld said the recent violence was the last straw for her and that she’s desperately looking to move on.

“I don’t feel safe, I’m one of the tenants that’s trying to move,” she said. “Labor Day I had bullet holes in the side of my house. These last two months, I don’t know if it’s gang-related, but a lot of people are scared. A few people are trying to move.”

“There’re walking the kids to school now, the kids didn’t want to attend summer school this year,” she said, saying they wanted to be closer to home. “This is the worst it’s gotten. We’re hurting over here. It’s the kids, the kids who are dying.”

Official Response

Supervisor David Campos said that he met with Captain Daniel Perea of the Mission Station last week to discuss the recent rise in violent crime. He’s asked for more resources for the Mission Station.

“We are monitoring this to make sure it’s something that is addressed as quickly as possible,” Campos said.

The Mission Station has a dedicated detail of officers for public housing complexes, including Bernal Dwellings. The complex itself also has armed private security, and video cameras monitor all activities within its four block radius.

And though some residents criticized perceived inaction by the private security, Rose Dennis from the San Francisco Housing Authority said managers from McCormack Baron Salazar, the development firm that manages Bernal Dwellings, recently flew out from their headquarters in St. Louis to meet with residents.

“They’ve been doing a lot of work recently, meeting with the community, working with and getting feedback from the community about their concerns with the scheduling,” said Rose Dennis, a spokesperson with the Housing Authority. “All that feedback has been taken into consideration.”

Leaving the Mission

Some residents, however, have begun the difficult transfer process of moving out.

“I gotta get a police report, send it in, and they’ll put me on a waiting list, and I have to wait like everybody else,” said a resident currently in the process. “I gotta go get the police report tomorrow, then I’m going to my doctor’s getting a note stating that my heart is not into this….I just want to get out.”

Transferring to another public housing complex requires an application form with supporting documents showing why an individual wants to move. Because each case is judged on its merits, there’s no standard waiting time for a transfer, according to Dennis.

She added that Bernal Dwellings frequently receives requests from people eager to move into the neighborhood.

“It’s well thought of, and people love living there,” she said. “There’s a lot of requests for people to live in Bernal Dwellings. They want to be near St. Luke’s, they love the Mission — there’s a variety of reasons why people like to live in Bernal Dwellings.”

At least one resident agreed.

“I’ve been here since 2001,” said the victim who was shot in the foot. “It’s a good place to live, rent’s cheap, it’s a great neighborhood. I would still like to live here.”