Explore: Every person killed in S.F. police shootings since 2000

Police have shot and killed seven people in San Francisco since October 2022, when Mission Local first published its running list of fatal police shootings in the city. 

This is an updated version with information about all seven incidents.

These new stories largely reflect similar and evolving trends to those identified in our first analysis: Young men of color, especially those with histories of mental illness, are statistically overrepresented among those killed.

But over the past three years, police were over eight times more likely to have used less-lethal ammunition before a killing than they were in the 22 years between 2000 and October 2022. This comes following the San Francisco police department’s decision to adopt a new use-of-force policy in January 2022. 

Since 2000, some 65 people have been shot and killed by police in San Francisco. Click on the pictures below to read the stories of each one. You can use the search bar to filter the shootings by name, neighborhood or date. Use the details option to filter by keyword, such as “knife” or “mental illness.”

Descriptions of events were sourced from police reports, district attorney accounts, media articles, and witness accounts. Some events are disputed.

The circumstances that surround each police shooting in the city are unique, but some trends have emerged nonetheless.

Demographics

At least 12 percent of people shot and killed by police in San Francisco were homeless. If the city’s latest count is accurate, then homeless people make up less than 1 percent of the city’s total population. This means that law enforcement have shot and killed homeless people at a rate at least 12 times higher than the overall population.

Mental illness also appears to be a huge factor in police shootings. We found that at least 32 percent of people who were shot reportedly had a history of mental illness. Many more were acting erratically at the time, or had indicated that they were suicidal. Previous analyses by KQED and the San Francisco Chronicle looked at police shootings over shorter periods, and found that mental illness was a factor in 58 and 60 percent of cases, respectively.

Since 2000, the people who have been shot were overwhelmingly male; we found only three women, compared to 62 men. Victims were disproportionately young, and likely to be either Black or Latinx. Black residents make up around 5 percent of the city, but 30 percent of fatal police shootings. Latinx people make up 16 percent of the city, but 22 percent of fatal police shootings.

In 25 cases, we have not yet found photographs of the deceased. In at least four cases, the remains of the deceased were not claimed by family and were cremated by the city of San Francisco.

Police injuries

Officers have faced injury and death during fatal police shootings.

In 2006, officer Bryan Tuvera, 28, was shot and killed while chasing armed robbery suspect Marlon Ruff. In several other instances, officers were stabbed or shot.

At least eight officers have shot and killed themselves since 2000, either deliberately or accidentally.

Weapons

In more than a third of fatal police shootings, the person who was shot was armed with a gun. At least five people were unarmed, and eight had no weapon besides a car.

It is difficult to determine when a car is being used as a weapon versus as a mode of escape. In this chart, “car” means they were in a car but had no other weapon, while “unarmed” means they had no weapon and no vehicle.

Every woman killed by police was shot while driving. In December, 2016, the San Francisco Police Commission banned shooting at moving cars unless the person inside posed an immediate threat to someone “by means other than the vehicle.”

While San Francisco police are currently not authorized to use tasers, less-lethal ammunition was used in at least eight instances. Police use of less-lethal ammunition preceded more than half of the police killings since October of 2022; less-lethal ammunition preceded deaths at an eight times higher rate over the past three years, than over the 22 years before.

Lawsuits

Lawsuits were brought against the city by the families of the deceased in at least 15 cases. And, since 2000, the city has paid out more than $7.6 million in civil cases and out-of-court settlements. Even more was given to those injured by police, and there may be more payments of undisclosed amounts not included in this total.

Two officers, Kenneth Cha and Chris Samayoa, were charged with homicide in 2021 by then-District Attorney Chesa Boudin. But District Attorney Brooke Jenkins dismissed the charges in 2023.

No officers in San Francisco have ever been convicted of on-duty homicide.

Methodology

We used police accounts, district attorney reports, news articles, and data from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to create our dataset. You can download the data here.

We included everyone we found who was shot by police within San Francisco. This mainly involved shootings by the San Francisco Police Department, although there were also cases from the Sheriff’s Office, the California Highway Patrol, and Daly City police. We excluded shootings by off-duty officers outside of San Francisco. We included shootings at SFO airport because, although it is in San Mateo County, the San Francisco Police Department has jurisdiction.

This dataset does not include people who were killed in custody or died by means other than shooting.

Sean Moore is included because, although he died three years after he was shot, his death was directly caused by complications from his shooting.

If you spot any mistakes in our reporting, encounter any bugs with our interactive, or have any more information or pictures you would like to be included, please email frankie@missionlocal.com.

We intend to keep this database updated.

Illustrations are by Molly Oleson. This piece was first published in October 2022 and was updated in June 2025.