Between 10 and 20 shots were fired near Precita Park just after 7:30 p.m. Monday in an apparent shootout between a man on foot and a man in a car.
Witnesses said they saw a car near the perimeter of the park and a man shooting from within, targeting another man standing on the corner of Precita Avenue and Alabama Street who then returned fire.
Peter Lew, a neighbor whose window oversees the intersection where the shooting occurred, said he heard gunshots and went to his window. He saw a man on the corner of Precita and Alabama with his hand on the hood of a black car, ducking behind the car and firing down Alabama at another car.
“The guy was standing with his hand on the car, shooting down the whole block.”
Lew said there were “over 20 shots” between the two, adding that he then saw the man on foot run from the corner and across the park. Lew said the man then entered a car, which sped off.
Kay Kirman, his wife, said that when she went to their window after hearing shots, she saw a white SUV parked near Cesar Chavez Street, a block north of the intersection, blocking the road. She also said the man on the corner was firing down the street at the SUV.
“I looked out the front window and there was a big white SUV blocking the two lanes at a diagonal at Cesar Chavez and Alabama, and at that point Peter was like, ‘Get on the ground.’”
She heard “at least 10” shots, and said she “crawled to the phone to call 911.” She called three times but got no response, she said.
Witnesses said that, after the initial shootout, the SUV drove south on Alabama and then sped east on Precita. The man on foot ran across the park to avoid the SUV before getting into a car that sped off in the opposite direction, west on Precita.
1
Florida St
An SUV stopped
diagonally across
Alabama street
Harrison St
Precitia Ave
Precitia Ave
A man inside the SUV exchanged
shots with a man on the corner
of Precitia and Alabama
Precitia Park
Alabama St
Precitia Ave
2
Florida St
Harrison St
Precitia Ave
Precitia Ave
The pedestrian ran south,
got into a car, and sped off
west down Precitia Ave
Precitia Park
The man in the SUV
followed briefly, then fled
northeast up Precitia Ave
Alabama St
Precitia Ave
Alabama St
1
An SUV stopped
diagonally across
Alabama street
Precitia Ave
Precitia Ave
Precitia Park
A man inside the
SUV exchanged
shots with a man
on the corner of
Precitia and Alabama
Precitia Ave
2
Alabama St
The pedestrian ran
south, got into a car,
and sped off west
down Precitia Ave
Precitia Ave
The man in the
SUV followed
briefly, then fled
northeast up
Precitia Ave
Chart by Will Jarrett. Basemap from Mapbox.
Graham White, a tourist visiting from New Orleans and staying nearby, said he, too, heard bursts of gunfire, went to his window, and saw the shootout.
“It looked like they were firing back and forth,” White said, saying he saw a “black car and a guy who was ducking behind these cars,” pointing to a string of parked vehicles on the perimeter of the park.
White said he saw the man on foot run across the park, near the children’s playground, and that the “the parents were all screaming and getting on their kids.” He also saw a car speed off west on Precita, against traffic.
Another neighbor, Aman, said he heard “really loud shouts,” went to his window, and saw shots coming from a car on the corner of Precita and Alabama. He said he saw a man on the corner who was being shot at return fire.
The shots came “back and forth, back and forth,” he said, and the car sped off down the street.
Two other witnesses who live nearby said that, after they heard the gunshots, they saw a dozen or more people running furiously away from the park.
San Francisco police said they responded to the shooting at 7:39 p.m. Witnesses told the police that “there were possibly two unknown males shooting at one another, and then both subjects fled from the scene in two different sedans.”
Police said there are no known victims at this time.
There were bullet holes in cars parked as far as a block away from the intersection on Alabama, as well as in a black car at the intersection.
Police had cordoned off a one-block radius around the intersection. It was cleared just after 9 p.m.
The shooting comes days after another drive-by at 24th Street and Treat Avenue, just blocks away, where a shooter targeted an outdoor party and shot nine people on Friday night. All nine were transported to the hospital, and one remains in critical condition.
“It’s summer in San Francisco,” said Lew.
Kirman, asked how she was feeling after the shooting, said, as a teacher, she was prepared for gun violence.
“I’m feeling good, I’m a teacher, we practice school shootings all the time.”
Additional reporting by Rae Wymer.
Crime is trauma and the county offers different services, which can be found here. Victims of violent crime can also contact the Trauma Recovery Center at UCSF.
A car with a broken window and a bullet hole parked on Alabama Street a block away from the corner. Photo by Taytum Wymer, June 12, 2023 
The corner of Precita and Alabama streets. Photo by Taytum Wymer, June 12, 2023 
The corner of Precita and Alabama streets. Photo by Taytum Wymer, June 12, 2023 
The corner of Precita and Alabama streets. Photo by Taytum Wymer, June 12, 2023 
A police SUV parked along Precita Avenue. Photo by Taytum Wymer, June 12, 2023 
A police SUV parked along Precita Avenue. Photo by Taytum Wymer, June 12, 2023
Ok, so no known victims at this time… just some terrorized families with small children. Does Mission Local not ask local leaders for a response to an event like this, or do local leaders just not give a damn because “it’s summer in San Francisco” or some other nonsense complacency? These shootings are UNACCEPTABLE. When is the community and its leaders going to step up and demand better?
city being held hostage by the actions of these individuals
So, I’m wondering if the defund the police movement may have had an enabling influence on this sort of unlawful behavior?
/s
The city is going to h*** in a handbasket.
Unfortunately the press Is afraid to call out the powers that be.
Nobody seems to be holding the politicians accountable.
I am thrown by the “It’s Summer in San Francisco” quote. I’ve lived in SF for almost 25 years and don’t remember 2 back to back stories such as these. This is not the norm and we shouldn’t act like it is.
We had a summer like this in 2008. It was pretty normal for gangs to have gun battles before the latest wave of gentrification.
You must have blocked out the 90s and the early 2000s. All these transplants and gentrifiers have no knowledge about the city or neighborhood they live in. The Mission was 100x worse in the 80s and 90s. Don’t act like crime drugs and homelessness just started. The Mission has always had a “gang issue” and these colonizers act like when they move in that the “Gangs” and Neighborhoods will suddenly cease to exist. It doesn’t work like that.
I speak for all Native San Francisco Mission Residents when I say : If You Don’t Like It Gentrifiers And Hipsters, Please Leave.
The Mission will always be the Mission
With respect: No, you can only speak for yourself – not “all” anything/anyone. The matter of gun violence is much bigger than this or that group in San Francisco, or “back in the day” this or that. We are a violent nation held hostage by the pro-any-gun-no-matter-how-deadly lobby – and its lackeys that only care about campaign contributions and their next election.
Same! This is not the norm, or it HASN’T been.
I live around the corner from this incident and have lived in the city for 30 years. Precita Park used to be called “needle park” and was also a regular hangout for gangs. This is the first time in a long while that gun violence has racked the neighborhood, indeed, not since a cold blooded murder of a young couple that took place in the park and prompted the installation of the memorial tiles and park bench at Treat St. & Precita Avenue, manufactured from melted guns. This incident appears to be gang related. Norteño and Sureño activity has been muted for some time, let’s hope this was an aberration.
You don’t remember the 90’s. Back then I remember drive by shootings in broad daylight, usually gang related, but not always.
“I’m feeling good, I’m a teacher, we practice school shootings all the time.”
America in one sentence.
I concur…not to mention: Sadly, also frightful that children have to practice school shootings rather than playing the flute, or their basketball shots.
Thank you for being the only media outlet that does thorough reporting while following-through the stories.
Can we please just get more police officers? The mission is truly just a lawless mess right now, with gang members openly donning their colors and walking around the neighborhood. For god’s sakes, this doesn’t affect Manhattan or Paris or London, why do we have to deal with it here? For some know-nothing do gooders who think cops are evil? Let them just leave the city and move. Regular citizens deserve clean, safe streets and the way to do that in the short term is more cops.
How many more shooting we need to read in the news before they get me?
Come on SF mayor do something now! It’s your responsibility to give as safety living in this experience but unsafe city!!
Please and thank you.
The shootings didn’t end in deaths (yet). Casualty numbers need to occur before authorities will take any action. The unfortunately truth about the world we live in here.
pretty tragic how calmly people accept gun violence next to a playground.
Brooke Jenkins’ reign of violent terror is ramping up.
someone called 911 THREE TIMES!! NOy ANSWER!!!
That part! I was really taken aback by that.
Luckily someone else got thru to the police and they were on the scene quickly.
Lots of people tend to call the police when there’s a shootout at a park in a residential neighborhood. I would be more taken aback if every single one of them was somehow able to reach a live operator on the first call.