Nine people were shot dead in San Francisco’s Mission District on Friday night and the victims – ranging in age from 19 to 35 – are all expected to survive, according to the city’s police department.
Officers responded before 9:07 p.m. on 24th Street and Treat Avenue, officials said. Those shot dead were mostly men between the ages of 22 and 29, but the victims also included two men in their 30s and a 19-year-old woman. The police did not provide information on the age and gender of a victim.
“As of this writing, it appears to be a targeted and isolated incident,” police said in a tweet. “There is currently no known risk to the public.”
SFPD Deputy Chief Raj Vaswani wrote that some of the injuries were considered life-threatening.
Dying Breed, a clothing store on the corner where the shooting occurred, threw a five-year anniversary block party on Friday night, according to posts on the store’s Instagram account. Store employees declined to comment when reached by phone.
In a small press conference Friday night at the scene, officer Eve Laokwansathitaya confirmed the number of casualties and said all were expected to survive. The police asked the population to avoid the area.
“I could see a victim,” said a witness who lives at the intersection, who asked not to be named. “I heard the shooting loud and clear but did not see it with my own eyes. The corner I live in is now taped up with yellow tape, cops are taking notes looking for spent shots I think.” [A victim] was cared for by three people until the emergency arrived. It looked very serious.”
According to a witness who filmed the incident and posted footage to Twitter, a self-driving Cruise car blocked emergency medicine access to the crime scene. In the video, a police officer could be seen and heard yelling for the robotic taxi to drive away as it was blocking access to the emergency room and fire department. The cruise car was about a block from the crime scene at the time the video was captured.
“Suddenly, cops, fire engines, and ambulances were moving down Folsom toward 24th,” said Paul Valdez, who recorded the incident. “The cruise car just pulled up on Folsom. An officer got out of his car, banged on the window and shouted for the car to pull off the road and get out of the way.”
“Our car first stopped as it approached an active emergency site, then reversed and stopped,” a Cruise spokesman wrote on Twitter. “During this time, all vehicles, including emergency vehicles, were able to drive around our car.”
San Francisco Transportation Superintendent Jeffrey Tumlin and other city officials have publicly criticized self-driving cars as unsafe. The California Public Utilities Commission appears close to approving near-unlimited use of Cruise and Waymo robotic taxis in San Francisco later this month.
Mayor London Breed tweeted about the shooting on Saturday, noting that the incident is still under investigation. At the same time, he thanked the first responders and staff at Zuckerberg General Hospital for making sure no lives were lost.
What we do know is that our @SF_emergency 911 dispatchers, @SFPD, paramedics and @ZSFGCare medical staff all responded quickly to this shooting and no life was lost. Many thanks to all the employees of our city who responded to this terrible event in the mission.
— London Breed (@LondonBreed) June 10, 2023
Anyone with information about the shooting can contact the San Francisco Police Department at 415-575-4444 or send a tip to TIP411.
