tree corner bike restaurant brick
The northwest corner of 24th and Mission, where a young man was fatally stabbed this morning.

The San Francisco Police Department arrested a suspect in the fatal stabbing of a regular at the 24th St. BART Plaza over the weekend.

Jose Hernandez, 25, was taken into custody on Sunday, according to sheriff’s booking logs. He was booked on suspicion of murder and battery.

In the predawn hours of Sunday, 42-year-old Valentin Hernandez Santillan was stabbed outside the China Express at the corner of 24th and Mission streets. Officers responded to the scene near 4 a.m., rendered aid, and called paramedics, but Hernandez Santillan succumbed to his injuries at the hospital.

Business owners nearby said he was a regular at the plaza, playing music from a speaker late into the night while hanging out on the corner.

His killing is the 31st homicide in San Francisco this year, and the third at the plaza since last summer.

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Joe was born in Sweden, where half of his family received asylum after fleeing Pinochet, and then spent his early childhood in Chile; he moved to Oakland when he was eight. He attended Stanford University for political science and worked at Mission Local as a reporter after graduating. He then spent time at YIMBY Action and as a partner for the strategic communications firm The Worker Agency. He rejoined Mission Local as an editor in 2023. You can reach him on Signal @jrivanob.99.

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1 Comment

  1. Bro whenever they need someone they always just pick up a random Latino in the Mission! We are targeted! We need less police on the streets.

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