Police Chief Greg Suhr told media and a handful of members of the public at a Friday afternoon press conference that the gunman at a construction site next to St. Luke’s Hospital on Cesar Chavez and Valencia streets had told construction workers at the site that he was suicidal and wanted to die.
But it was a police bullet that ultimately killed the gunman, Suhr said.
As events were unfolding last Wednesday night, Mission Local reported that a witness said the shooter was suicidal.
The gunman, 25-year-old Javier Lopez Garcia of San Jose, robbed a San Bruno Big 5 Sporting Goods store earlier on the afternoon of the shooting. He did so using a handgun, puzzling police as to why he would need to rob a store to obtain a firearm.
The handgun turned out to be an airsoft gun, which he brandished at the San Bruno store after handing over a note announcing his intentions to shoot bystanders. He also handed them a torn ad for the particular shotgun he wanted.
“Please do not make any sudden movements or gestures or else I will be forced to shoot you” the note read. “The only diffence [sic] between me and you is im [sic] not afraid to get shot.”
Suhr said police could still not explain why the man came to the St. Luke’s Hospital construction site, having found no connection between Garcia and the hospital or the construction firm.
When Garcia arrived at the construction site, a worker there called the police to report a person with two guns. It’s unclear how many times the shooter fired. Some 30 construction workers were on site, some of whom were hiding behind beams to avoid the shooter.
Suhr said police did not recover any shells from the scene, but a box of ammunition was recovered with two of five rounds missing.
The officers, upon arriving, saw Garcia sweeping the barrel of his gun from side to side. Three officers shot from the ground floor up at Garcia, at which point he collapsed on top of the lift where he was standing, Suhr said.
“Ever since Columbine in 1999, law enforcement around the United States and here in San Francisco trains to engage an active threat to prevent further loss of life or serious injury in all active shooter situations. This was that situation,” Suhr explained.
Police then positioned themselves on the floor above Garcia. To see if he was still alive, police deployed two distraction devices, explosives that result in a loud bang more than any kind of destructive force. Garcia failed to move, so police lowered the lift to the ground floor, where Garcia was pronounced dead.
Suhr also said he had visited Garcia’s mother to offer his condolences for the loss of her son’s life.
“Any time we have to use deadly force it is a tragedy,” Suhr said. “All too many times when we have incidents of an active shooter we’re discussing multiple victims, and thankfully that did not take place this time.”
The District Attorney’s Office, the Office of Citizen Complaints, the police department’s internal affairs unit, and the police homicide detail are still investigating the incident.