Body-worn camera footage presented at today’s virtual-only SFPD police shooting town hall meeting showed a quick and brutal standoff between Officer Eduardo Villanueva and 37-year-old Marc Child, who was shot and killed by Villanueva in a confrontation in the early morning hours of Thursday, June 22. The investigation is ongoing.
At 2:40 a.m. that morning, officers were dispatched to Child’s family home on the 700 block of 31st Avenue near Balboa Street in the Outer Richmond, after Child’s 83-year-old father, Roland, called 911. In that call, he reported that their son had killed his 76-year-old mother, Barbara.
The 90-minute meeting was presided over by Police Chief Bill Scott, Acting Commander Mark Im and Richmond Station Captain Chris Canning, and included recordings of multiple 911 calls and body-worn camera footage from several officers on the scene.
In a recording of the first 911 call, Roland Child can be heard saying that he is at home with his son and dogs, and that his wife is bleeding all over the floor.
“He hit her with a stick … He’s on drugs,” Roland Child says, referring to his son. After a beat, it sounds as though Roland Child says, “He just cracked.”
At the end of the first call, Roland Child says, “Let go, Marc.” Then, the line goes dead. In a recording of the second phone call, a dog yelps in fear or pain shortly before police arrive.
Villanueva’s body-worn camera footage shows him walking from the front door of the street-level home up the stairs, holding his gun in his right hand and flashlight in his left. Marc Child can be heard saying, “Come on up, bitches.”
As Villanueva rounds the corner on the second floor of the house, Child is partially visible in the hall facing the police. Half of his body is concealed by a doorway. Villanueva points his gun at Child, who appears to be barefoot.
Within moments, Child comes fully into view, and is holding what is later found to be a folding knife with a 3.7-inch blade in his right hand. The knife is out.
Villanueva yells at Child to put the knife down. As the officer retreats down the stairs and out of the house, he ushers Roland Child outside, yelling at him to “get down.” Child follows him, knife in hand. The officer has his gun trained on Child throughout the encounter.
The body-worn camera shows Child moving toward officers down the stairs, yelling: “Oh, you’re running away, you little bitch? You little bitch. You’re running away, huh? You’re running — .” Child was initially moving slowly, but picked up speed and appeared to be chasing Villanueva; as he says the final word, two shots ring out from Villanueva’s gun. Child, who was around six feet from the officer at the time of the shooting, sinks to his knees and falls over in the doorway of the home.
The entire recorded interaction between Marc Child and the police lasted 15 seconds.
Following the shooting, officers entered the house to examine the scene. In blurred-out footage, a large amount of blood on the upstairs bathroom floor is visible, and an officer states that they found a woman and dog — both on the floor, dead.
Downstairs, Marc Child was taken in an ambulance to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, where he died shortly after.
Photos presented at the town hall showed three wooden walking sticks documented as suspected weapons in the death of the mother and dog. Another showed “narcotics rolled up inside U.S. currency” found on the scene, in front of a framed photograph of Roland and Barbara Child’s two dogs.
In public comment following the presentation, callers offered condolences to the family, but most remarks escalated to political critiques. A majority of those calling in thanked officers, and several condemned advocates in favor of defunding the police and developing alternatives to policing.
As of the Budget & Appropriations Committee’s approval on Wednesday, SFPD will see a significant wage increase across the department, along with funding aimed at bolstering staffing. And, this year, the SFPD Police Academy will welcome 32 recruits — its largest class since 2020.
One woman questioned why there was no apparent attempt at deescalation. Chief Scott challenged her perspective, pointing out that “there were efforts to create some space between the person that was shot and the officers.”
A man who identified himself as Jasper Mather, a former social worker with the Department of Public Health, said he felt deescalation was not necessarily an option because of how “inebriated” Child appeared to be.
“Perhaps a Taser could have been used, or pepper spray,” said Mather.
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.
Excellent police work! No one can live above the law and if they are not scared of authority, bet that it will create more issues and problem in the long run. Human right is human right. Stop talking about rights and start looking into responsibilities. Isn’t it why all the drugs problem still exist and I have experienced seeing drug addicts dare to do crazy stuff without fearing of doing things wrong and without fearing of police officer or any type of authority. Isn’t it the world we wanna live into where everyone thinks they can do anything because they have rights to do it without thinking even bit about how they should be responsible and how it would affect others? I really think those people who never yield to authority deserve to die because no one can live above the law. And those people who are human rights organizations or whatever, imagine this happens to your family, think about that before questioning all the stupid questions.
No de-escalation? The fact that someone could ask that question proves that police officers have no hope in this city. Perhaps next time a maniac is on a rampage they can send in milk and cookies. The experts at Urban Alchemy could deliver it.
excellent police work. These people who cry deescalation regardless of the situation are truly delusional.
Heartbreaking. Hard to imagine the level of trauma Mr. Child is enduring.