San Francisco police officers descended on the Mission District Thursday morning in response to a man who was allegedly wielding a knife and making threats inside an affordable housing building, according to the police department.
An elderly man had been screaming from the third floor of the apartment building for hours, according to a neighbor, who said she had been watching the scene since 12:30 p.m. The complex, Casa de la Misión, is a senior-housing building at 3001 24th St. on the corner of Harrison Street.
More than 20 police and fire department vehicles lined the area around 24th and Harrison streets in the early afternoon, and 24th Street was cordoned off with yellow tape between Harrison and Treat streets. Police first arrived on the scene at 8:31 a.m., according to a department spokesperson, who said officers were responding to “a person armed with a knife making threats.”
After hours of negotiations between officers and the man, smoke was seen wafting from the man’s third-floor apartment window in waves around 3:30 p.m. Shortly after, police officers exited the senior home with the man in tow, handcuffed to a stretcher. They then loaded him onto a fire department ambulance, which left the scene.
The man was taken into custody and transported by paramedics to a nearby hospital to be medically evaluated.
The “smoke” may have been a chemical agent deployed by officers; police and medics on the scene were wearing respirators. The SFPD has not yet responded to inquiries regarding the use of chemical agent.
A police spokesperson earlier said that officers had been “in contact” with the man making threats, and that the crisis negotiation team had been on scene. Police had been attempting to coax the man into a “peaceful resolution,” the spokesperson said. Two drones flew outside the man’s window as of 2:30 p.m., and police dangled a loudspeaker that looked like a blue ball from the roof, to communicate with the man.
Another resident of the senior-housing building said that the man wielding the knife had been living in the complex for three years. He said he had pulled a knife on one of the employees working at the building that morning, and that police had asked everyone who lived on the third floor to evacuate.
“There must be 20 cops in that building,” he added. He was waiting at the intersection for some three hours as of 3 p.m., and was unsure when he would be allowed back into his building.
Lamea Abuelrous, the owner of Temo’s cafe, across the street from the senior home, said the subject was a regular of hers. She said he was from Russia.
She said the man would come to the coffee shop and ask for sugar. “He didn’t pay, but gave me flowers just to say thank you,” she said. He would tell her: “Thank you for the food and drink you always give me for free, if you know I’m hungry,” she said.
She said he was “sweet and friendly,” and that she has “never had any trouble from him.”
This is a developing story and may be updated as more information becomes available.
Anyone with information regarding this incident should call the SFPD Tip Line at 415-575-4444 or Text a Tip to TIP411 and begin the text message with SFPD. You may remain anonymous.
I am sure that this will have a good outcome. SFPD is doing the right thing by having a drone overhead, by having someone speak to this man in his language, by having the trained hostage negotiators and by being patient. However, I am sure there will be someone who has criticism or find fault in one way or another. I applaud the SFPD!💙
20 cop cars and a swat team for an old man with a knife. Imagine if the SFPD were not “understaffed.”