San Francisco police shot and killed an armed man last night during a robbery investigation in the Tenderloin area, according to a statement from the police department.
Video obtained by the San Francisco Standard showed a police officer shooting the man from behind as he fled down the street. The man’s name was Beto, but most called him Nicoya, said Juan Baros, who was standing on Willow Street near where the shooting occurred last night.
โI heard the cops [say], โHey, stop,โโ Baros said. โI heard the shots:Boom boom, and then boom, I seen him drop.โ
Baros believed he heard additional shots coming from Beto before the police opened fire. After the gunfire began, at least a dozen more police cars flooded the street, he said.
In a statement on Twitter, the police union said on Monday afternoon that the man turned back toward the police as he was fleeing, and fired his gun at the officers before an officer began firing his gun.
Baros said Beto was with his girlfriend when he was shot, and that she was pregnant. โShe ran up after and tried to help him when she saw him fall down โฆ and the cops were like, โHey, away from him!โ And they were like, โDonโt shoot her, sheโs pregnant!โ โฆ Itโs pretty wild.โ
Shortly before midnight, police responded to reports of an armed robbery around the area of McAllister and Leavenworth streets in the Tenderloin, dispatch records show.ย
Police spokesperson Eve Laokwansathitaya said that officers responded to Willow Street and Van Ness Avenue at 11:56 p.m. on Sunday to investigate the armed robbery, and โattempted to make contact with a man armed with a firearm.โ
Within minutes, the man was shot, and ultimately declared dead at the hospital. The manโs identity has not yet been confirmed by the medical examinerโs office.ย The department did not detail how many officers were involved in the shooting.
Willow Street is a narrow road between apartment buildings in the Tenderloin that is often lined with tent encampments. This shooting was the second police shooting this year; the first resulted in no injuries.ย
Multiple people who were still on Willow Street Monday afternoon said they were there when the shots were fired, and knew the victim who was killed.
A man named Juan Carlos said he did not know Beto well, but had seen him earlier that evening in the neighborhood and said hello. Juan Carlos said he goes to that block of Willow occasionally with food, and Beto is sometimes there. โI never had any problems,โ Juan Carlos said. โNo confrontation, nothing like that.โ
One resident who lives in the building adjacent to Willow Street said she heard the gunshots from inside her apartment, and that the shooting happened at the side garage, where she comes in and out of the building.
Drew Youngwerth, another Tenderloin resident who lives in an apartment above where the shooting took place, said he heard five or six โloud noises,” looked out his window and saw the victim on the ground wearing a backpack. Police began giving the victim commands to put his arms out, Youngwerth said, and the man appeared to be complying at times.
โI just looked down out my window, and I saw a guy collapse onto the ground,โ Youngwerth said.
Youngwerth also said he heard a nearby woman, possibly the manโs girlfriend, calling for medical support for at least a minute before โa swarm of policeโ began rendering aid. โIโve never seen so many police all at one time,โ he said.
The police department will hold a town hall meeting about the shooting within 10 days. This incident is being investigated by several city departments: the District Attorneyโs Office, the SFPDโs Investigative Services Division and Internal Affairs Division, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, and the Department of Police Accountability.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the SFPD at 415-575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411 and begin the message with SFPD. You may remain anonymous.
Suspect ran from the police. Had a gun. Fired his gun back at the cops. Cops shot back. Case closed. Justified. Heard it here first.