Police searched Marshall Elementary Tuesday evening, looking for suspects in an earlier incident in which someone threw a gun out of a car window. Although children had been dismissed for the day some staff were on hand, and police cleared all for the search.
“I just got kicked out” said Chi Ho Leung, a janitor who had been working at the school. He said from where he was working on the second floor, he could see police pull someone out from under a car.
Bystanders gathered behind yellow tape cordoning off the area while officers combed the nearby Walgreens parking lot.
SFPD spokesperson Officer Grace Gatpandan said that just after 7 p.m., a Shot Spotter activation and a 911 call both reported shots fired near 26th and Harrison streets. Officers responding to those reports then witnessed someone throw a gun out of a car window. When they tried to pull the driver over, the suspect took off.
The suspect then drove onto the freeway and got off off again at Duboce Avenue. At that point, officers followed the suspects to Marshall Elementary School.
Lieutenant Carlos Gutierrez said that while officers did not see any suspect actually enter the school, they searched it to ensure safety.
By 7:45 p.m., Gutierrez told a reporter at the scene that two suspects were in custody, with a third outstanding. That suspect fled the scene on foot.
At that point the remaining staff was allowed to re-enter. Gutierrez said officers had been searching for the gun in the area where officers had first encountered the suspects, and a police spokesperson indicated a gun was recovered by police. The suspects’ car was also found abandoned, in the area of 15th and Natoma streets.