The San Francisco Police Department will hold a town hall meeting tomorrow to discuss the fatal police shooting of 45-year-old Luis Gongora last week.
The town hall — which the department must hold seven days after any police shooting — is scheduled for Wednesday, April 13, at 12 p.m. at the Local 261 union hall at 3271 18th St., when police will update the public on their investigation of the shooting.
Gongora was shot and killed last Thursday after a 911 call reported a man with a knife in a homeless encampment on Shotwell Street between 18th and 19th streets. Police say Gongora — who was a homeless resident of the encampment — lunged at them with a knife and that officers fired in self-defense.
Video of the incident shows Gongora was shot within 30 seconds of officers exiting their vehicle. Officers first fired at Gongora with beanbag rounds and yelled at him to drop the knife and get on the ground before using their handguns.
But seven witnesses have been interviewed by different media outlets contradicting the police account of the shooting, saying Gongora did not lunge at officers with a knife and that the Spanish-speaker likely did not understand police commands. Witnesses said Gongora did have a knife but that it was in his waistband when he was shot, not in his hand as officers have stated.
Eyewitnesses to the shooting also claimed harassment by police, and the encampment where Gongora and others once lived on Shotwell Street was dismantled over the weekend in different visits by city staff and police officers.
Another fatal shooting by the SFPD, another town hall in the daytime in the Mission. Some things just never change.
Even tho the police commission is window dressing in terms of community accountability, and the constant town halls and listening sessions with the commissioners and SFPD brass is more public engagement, there is no oversight commission watchdogging corrupt DA Gascon.
And Gascon’s public appearances are either at 850 Bryant, where the riff-raff aren’t going to show up and zap him, or tightly scripted and controlled events. Why does Gascon get a free ride and Greg Suhr takes all the heat from pissed off community folks?
We need to think about a Law Enforcement Commission, one that is addresses the sheriff, police and DA agencies. Sure, it won’t have any power but it will be a venue for these departments to regularly hear from us about what we want in terms of policing and enforcement.
It’s wrong that another civilian has been killed by the cop and no pressure is being put on Gascon to end his policy of no charges against police officers killing folks.
Don’t buy the b.s. of Gascon’s blue ribbon panel looking into naughty emails as a solution to cops killing the homeless and people of color, etc. When do we began applying pressure on him?
For some weird reason, the Mario Woods Coalition is apathetic about calling on Gascon to charge the officers who killed Wood. They should be leading the charge against Gascon.
Its funny you mention Gascon yet if you go to practically any higher up in the SFPD or sheriffs department you’ll hear nothing but negative sentiment about the guy. He’s the one forcing accountability on the police, supposedly. I think the majority of people just may not know who or what Gascon’s job is. He’s more lawyer-y and-not that i think Suhr is unproffesional-professional. He wears a suit and tie and like you said, makes rare and scripted appearances. Suhr wears a cop uniform, certainly looks the part of a tough cop, and is sent out to meetings with the public to answer questions and defend his department regularly. Thats why theres less pointed criticism of Gascon, i think. Also, Gascon is fully capable of getting criminal charges put in motion against those he sees fit, and he hasnt proven himself to be supercedingly loyal to the police since he started working in the city. If he thought the cops who shot mario were guilty of a crime, or chargeable, he would have been the first to publically call for the officers firings and so forth. He didnt. It was the cops themselves who immediately launched an investigation and took the officers off regular duty. Maybe if Gascon, the internal investigation, and a federal probe all come back with the same verdict, that verdict might be universal consensus. Legally speaking of course. Youre still allowed to think what happened was messed up and that you would’ve done a better job.
when will the SF police finally get body and dash cams? It is just ridiculous they do not exist yet. The chief has been talking about them, studying them, since about 2011. Here is another incident with no police cam video.
As we’ve seen recently regarding other no-brainers. Giving less lethal, usually non lethal tasers to officers instead of live rounds. What makes most sense doesn’t always transcend thick skulls on the board of supervisors. Surely less people would be dead if we allowed the use of tools thats main draws are the ability to disable without killing a person. Surely the crooked police on the force would think twice if their actions were being live streamed to a server somewhere, essentially ending the option of covering up any wrongdoing. Suhr and the police commission actually want both of these things, its the same people that cry foul before they hear any facts on a shooting that aren’t signing off on real changes that have made a difference in other cities like SF. I dont think body cam footage would make a difference in this case, but who knows. If the public gets to see things as if theyre the ones blessed with the responsibility of calming and convincing unstable people that they should relax, put handcuffs on, and actually go sit in a cage for anywhere from a day to several years, maybe they’ll check themselves before they get on the megaphone at ‘fire chief suhr’ rallies or even before they make seemingly harmless criticisms at the dinner table or online. I’d like to see what they saw, and they want us to see what they’re seeing. Politicians on the progressive left know race relations, police brutality, unconscious bias, and privilege-so to speak-are all intertwined. Being able to blame a traditionally white and male, a more conservative, and a sometimes unforgivingly violent government agency thats often shielded by the law has political benefits. Especially when the public is chanting down with the status quo or claiming institutionalized racism exists and is perpetrated consciously by members of an agency that politicians have a good amount of control over. If you can get Suhr fired, the cops who shot Nieto, Woods, or this man on Shotwell St. fired. You’ve done a good moral deed. To alot of people actually, you’re a civil rights crusader and chances of you being re-elected or elected to higher office sky rocket. I think people in 100 years will see things differently, but thats often the case with misguided political movements. Maybe SFPD will have bodycams and tasers by then.