Mission organizers and police alike are mobilizing to address a spate of violence including shootings in the Mission and in Bernal Heights that have sent five victims to the hospital in the past two weeks, one of them a 13-year-old boy and one a man who was shot in June and died of his injuries on Oct. 3. On Monday,...
Neighborhood organizers stood in a circle with police officers and city workers Wednesday night as sage smoke wafted through the auditorium of the Women’s Building. They performed a ritual honoring the four directions, set some ground rules for discussion, then moved on to discuss a pressing issue: how to address neighborhood-specific problems with San Francisco’s justice system, as laid out...
At Parque Niños Unidos on 23rd and Treat Streets, Sala-Haquekyah Chandler delivered an impromptu call to action last Wednesday about gun violence in the city that has left her without her son and a police investigation that has so far failed to apprehend those who took his life. “I have paid my dues to stand and speak for the people who...
Hundreds of community organizers met for the second time late last week to put together a plan to end violence in the Mission District. Elements of the plan include determining what services are available, which ones need more funding, and what local laws should be changed to help get at-risk youth off the streets and prevent gang violence. “These brothers...
Roberto Hernandez stood before facing an auditorium packed with city authorities and hundreds of his community organizer colleagues one recent Thursday. “I am tired of raising money for coffins,” he proclaimed. “The norm is to hit the floor when we hear gunshots. The Head Start program on 24th and Harrison has gunshot drills for children from ages 3 to 5. That’s unacceptable.” With the...
José Luis Anthony Escobar, de 19 años de edad, era el mayor de siete hijos. Escobar quiso encargarse de su familia cuando su padrastro fue asesinado el primero de septiembre en el estacionamiento de un Taco Bell. “Sentía que tenía que asumir el papel”, dijo su mamá, Dina Carrillo. “Como si tuviera que cuidar de mí”. Fue así que consiguió...
Jose Luis Anthony Escobar, 19, the oldest of seven children, wanted to take care of his family after his stepfather was shot and killed in a Taco Bell parking lot on Sept. 1. “He felt he had to take the role,” said his mother, Dina Carrillo. “[Like] he had to take care of me.” So he got a job — the...
More than two dozen people gathered at the Mission Beacon Center Thursday afternoon to plan a community response to the recent rise in gang violence, which includes three shootings in the past two weeks. The goal of the group, which calls itself the Mission Peace Collaboration, is to set an agenda for violence prevention and outreach within the greater Mission...
Nineteen-year-old Cesar Bermudez was killed and another man was injured in a double shooting near 24th and Harrison streets on Wednesday, police said. The victims were approached at around 6 p.m. by two men who shot them. Bermudez died at the scene and the other victim was taken to San Francisco General Hospital. His condition was not immediately disclosed, but...
Friday A 52-year-old man was kicked in the head and robbed Friday morning on South Van Ness Avenue near 23rd Street. The man was walking on South Van Ness at about 7:09 a.m. when two suspects sneaked up on him from behind and attacked him, according to police reports. When the man fell to the ground, the suspects kicked him...
