On Wednesday, dog walker Terry Williams was strolling around the Alamo Square neighborhood, as he does every day — even though, just yesterday, his house went up in flames, displacing his family and hospitalizing his two elderly parents, who were both at home when the fire broke out.
“I’m just devastated. I look up at my house and — I lost everything,” said Williams, who was born and raised in Alamo Square and runs a dog-walking business there. “We had 100, 200 years of family history in that house … all that’s gone. It hurts.”
Not only were photos and family memorabilia lost to the fire, Williams said his whole apartment was a “total loss:” He has no clothing left, other than what was wearing yesterday.
Starting in early May, Williams began receiving troubling, racist packages at his home complete with visceral, racist threats. Then, yesterday morning, a fire broke out at his longtime home, where his parents and nephew also resided.
Williams’ mother remains in the hospital, Williams said, where doctors are monitoring her for smoke inhalation after she had to be rescued yesterday from the top unit of the family’s home on Grove and Fillmore streets. His father, meanwhile, has burns on his head, and has to go back to the hospital for further care.
For the time being, the family will be staying temporarily in two suites at a nearby hotel, provided by the city.
While the fire department conducts its investigation, Lt. Mariano Elias confirmed that the fire began on the second floor of the building, where Williams lives, and extended to the third floor, where his parents live. Elias also said the Williams’ had insurance.
The investigation, Elias said, “will take some time and more efforts have been put in place to try and help speed up the process.”
And, while Williams said that police have been in contact with him about their ongoing investigation into the two packages, which they classified as a hate crime, he said he couldn’t disclose any information he had been given.
For now, his focus is on his family.
“The most important thing is where we’re going to be as a family,” Williams said. “I wanna keep us together.”
Williams said he doesn’t feel safe with his parents being separated from him, and he has no plans to separate from his three rottweilers — his “babies” — either. He said he has long experienced racism in his own neighborhood, and that it has been escalating for years.
“It got kinda bad [but] I didn’t think it was gonna get this bad,” Williams said. “I thought, ‘Okay what’s the next level?’ Then it got worse.”
But the community is rallying. Neighbors began showing their loyalty for the dog walker, who is well-known in the community, and held a rally at Alamo Square Park earlier this month. Now, since the fire, he has received an even bigger outpouring of support.
Last night, Williams slept at a neighbor’s home. And, as he walks, he is repeatedly stopped by neighbors who know him and want to help: “My uncle just told me!” one says. Another: “Let us know what we can do.”
Two separate GoFundMes have raised $145,445 in total as of Wednesday evening. This weekend, a potluck fundraiser is scheduled on his block, and tonight, a pizza pop-up pledged its profits to Williams’ family.
The city has already been looking into Williams’ encounters, including the police department and the mayor’s office; Supervisor Dean Preston’s office has made calls to action, though it is unclear where that has led so far.
When he received the call yesterday about the fire that had broken out at his home, Williams was at the mayor’s office, discussing legal representation in the racist incidents that preceded the fire — packages that included two Black dolls with nooses around their necks, KKK imagery and racial slurs, a tiny grenade and demands that he leave the neighborhood.
“I was pretty much useless, I was out of whack yesterday for a while. Everything was like a whirlwind for me,” said Williams, who rushed home when he learned that a fire had broken out.
And, while police purportedly have reviewed surveillance video footage that neighbors collected of a person allegedly approaching Williams’ doorstep with those packages, it is unclear whether they have a suspect in mind.
In a statement, SFPD spokesperson said the department is “unable to confirm that these incidents are connected,” but that both packages are being “actively investigated as a hate crime.” The police department also opened an investigation into yesterday’s fire.
But today, as he walks his neighborhood, Williams seems like he’s looking forward.
“I’m trying to figure out what we’re going to do.”
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.
