On Tuesday evening, an SF police officer shot a man in the outskirts of San Francisco’s downtown district. According to the involved policeman, the man took out a knife and brandished it at Market Street’s sidewalk near the Westfield Mall. After the shooting incident, several medical staffers rushed him to the nearest hospital to treat his gunshot wound. As of late, there are no further details concerning the man’s condition.
In response to the event, the San Francisco Police Department is currently investigating the officer-in-question involved in the shootout. According to multiple witnesses, the incident occurred after the man holding a knife refused to disarm himself of his weapon, forcing the officer to shoot at him.
Witness Ezra Ortiz confirmed the events that took place on the scene. According to Ortiz’s statement in his interview with KPIX5, the man was unstable with his actions and later disobeyed the police’s orders for him to put his weapon down and surrender. Additionally, he mentioned that the man’s knife was pretty big and waved it around in public. The police later decided to seclude him from innocent bystanders and corner him with lesser people, trying to reason out with the man. However, due to his erratic actions and refusal to let go of the knife, law enforcement officials resorted to shooting him down that night.
According to another onlooker interviewed by KPIX5, he heard multiple gunshots fired during the occurrence. Other accounts even told the news outlet that one of the police officers showed the recovered knife to everyone present at the crime scene. According to the paramedics who responded to the incident, the man received at least one gunshot-inflicted injury.
One of San Francisco Police Department spokesman, Officer Robert Rueca, stated that they got informed of a fight break out between a group of men at 5 p.m. on Tuesday. According to him, several police officers arrived at the scene and saw the man wielding a knife.
Moreover, Rueca disclosed that the officers involved used several different weapons in response to the incident. The man got hit by a taser coming from the sheriff deputies, while other officers fired a beanbag gun – a tool famously known for its less-lethal shots. Somewhere during the situation, one policeman shot his service revolver. According to Rueca, the number of officers who triggered hits and the weapons’ arrangement remains unclear.
Furthermore, the SFPD also investigates the time frame of when the alleged police officers used the said weapons in the shootout. Additionally, authorities also mentioned that the officer-in-question of inflicting gunshot to the man is currently under interrogation.
On Tuesday, the city announced an advisory to the public by 5:20 p.m. According to the alert, the public should stay away from the area between Fifth and Market streets, notifying that police and medical staff are investigating the scene. Additionally, onlookers might see crime-scene tapes strewn all over the vicinity, somewhere near the Westfield San Francisco Centre’s front entrance at Market street.
At about 5:40 p.m., the BART also provided notice that the Powell Street Station closed early due to police activity happening within the said location. Currently, there was no issued confirmation that the station’s shutdown was related to the shooting incident that occurred earlier at 5 p.m. However, BART officials posted on their Twitter account that there was indeed a police investigation happening nearby the previously mentioned streets where the incident took place. During the shutdown, a nearby train station also halted its operations. However, the trains resumed their working hours by 6:15 p.m.
People with additional information regarding the case can contact the San Francisco Police Department through their 24-hour hotline at 1-415-575-4444 or send an anonymous tip at TIP411 with a beginning text of “Text-a-Tip.”
