NBC Bay Area reports that police are investigating a shooting that took place at 29th Avenue and Geary Boulevard on Sunday night just before 7pm.
One man was shot and remains hospitalized in critical condition. Police believe three people were involved in the shooting, including the victim. Two vehicles were seen fleeing the scene.
Reader Caitlin L. happened to be in the area just after the shooting occurred.
“The guy had his car door open and I saw him walk around the back of his car and then he laid down and shortly after that I realized he had been shot,” Caitlin told us over email.
Caitlin said other witnesses heard 3 or 4 shots. Police said the incident began during a fight in a car, and they are still searching for two male suspects.
If anyone has any information pertaining to this incident, please contact Sgt. Maguire #1158 from SFPD Criminal Investigations Unit (415) 553-1753 or at thomas.j.maguire@sfgov.org.
Sarah B.
[via SFAppeal]
it was so scary i was on geary between 29th & 29th… i heard four gun shots & a guy yelling for help… i was wondering what that sound… i was listening to my music then i ran back to 28th avenue… ducked down… i was afraid the killer would see me… anyways… i went back to the scene of the crime because i was nosy and a guy who came from that side told me the killer was driving a blue ford focus…
I can’t believe that these things are happening in the Richmond district. I’ve also noticed that the number of residental houses being tagged (graffiti) in the Richmond district.
penelope, the victims were injured, one critically. no one was killed
Last night all reports showed that it started with an altercation in the car that ended in the shooting; this morning I watched ABC7’s 11pm newscast that said he was approached while in the car by two the suspects who then shot him. I really hope he’s okay and that the police can get more information about what happened. Until then I’m not feeling particularly safe as it’s not clear whether or not this was random. You’d guess that if he knew the people (if they were in the car together) then we’d have more info about the suspects; since it’s not available it makes you think it’s not the case. He did seem to be talking to people who ran to help before the police arrived, as well.
There were definitely more than “two or three” gunshots, there were at least four. When we first heard the shots (we live two blocks away on 27th/Geary) I thought “if those are gunshots then this is overkill.” But we thought it might be firecrackers, as there is a clown in the neighborhood who occasionally likes to set off firecrackers (or fire a gun in the air?) in the middle of the night. This wasn’t the middle of the night though, and minutes later the neighborhood was swarming with fire trucks and police cars.
Anyone know what was going on just over the hill at 29th and Fulton earlier on Sunday? My neighbor had 4 cop cars out front of his place. Officers kept walking in and out of his house but I couldn’t tell what had happened.
Time for law enforcement to clean up our streets! There has been a plague of burglarism over San Francisco as a whole. Something needs to happen, we just installed a security system in our building because someone constantly breaks into our lobby. I hope the Police catch the shooters and realize that things are getting out of hand in our area.
Funny how close to Section 8 housing these kind of crimes seem to cluster. I bet most people don’t know there is a Section 8 building right at Geary/31st.
http://www.benefitingbvhp.org/media/SF_Public_Housing_3_11_2008.pdf
Knowing SF media, this story will be forgotten (or hidden, depending on your point of view) by Friday. I didn’t even see this reported on the Chronicle website. This kind of thing only happens in Oakland right? Right?
I live close enough to 29thth and Geary that when I was coming home last, from a distance I thought all the police activity was going on in front of my residence. I’ve lived in the Richmond 13 years and I have to say–the shuttering of businesses as well as “abandoned” houses, the gang tags on everything and regular cell phone/MUNI robberies as soon as the sun sets have made this place feel entirely different than when I first came. I think there are a variety of changes that have led to the situation…but basically, I’m saddened for what is still in many ways my favorite neighborhood since landing in SF 25 years ago. I hope the shooting victim is okay. A little disappointed the suspects were able to drive away…?! BTW, I wonder where it actually happened as there are fresh blood spatters, but not where I saw the police…oddly close to be unrelated however.
e last night I initially
@ 8. Genevieve–oh, I knew that was there, I have to walk down the hill from the 33rd bus stop on my way home and have learned to walk on the other side of the street because of what I always thought of as a “sketchy building with sketchy people hanging around.” I don’t know how long it has been Section 8 and I don’t want to take away from people who need housing–elderly and people with kids, but uh…Do Not be walking with your cell phone out around there, 31st=no.
I live about a block and a half from there and also have been concerned about what seems to be a rising amount of violent criminal activity in our neighborhood. I’ve lived in the Richmond for several years and it’s discouraging to see crime of this level starting to be a regular occurrence. Does anyone know if there’s a neighborhood watch program in effect in our neighborhood. Trying to figure out how to help out.
wow, section 8? i grew up and still live in the outer richmond–even went to school at Washington, never knew that place was section 8. that explains alot!
what is section 8?
I heard the shots last night and thought it was fireworks. Sad.
I saw a woman on the N/E corner of 29th and Clement sitting in a full squat and peeing with a big stream on the sidewalk. I just stared at her with a puzzled look as I drove past her at 745pm. It was still bright outside. Sad. Almost thought I was driving through Tenderloin.
Today that is*
I recently signed up for a new services / app called nextdoor that allows neighbors to connect. Not too many ppl on it but it seems,like a useful tool. I’ve checked in a bu ch of times when I’ve heard funny noises / bangs in the night. Wish more people were on it.
@karen You could just google it, but if you aren’t able to: Section 8 housing is a welfare housing program where private landlords are subsidized to take in low income renters….it’s project housing but owned by private individuals, not the state. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_8_(housing)
If you look at this map of SF you’ll see where they are all located: http://www.benefitingbvhp.org/media/SF_Public_Housing_3_11_2008.pdf
Bottom line.. poverty=crime
It was more like 8 or 9 shots. i saw the same what looked like the same honda parked across geary b4 the shooting with a latino bearded man w an orange beanie ritting in the passenger seat. when i walked across the st. towards 30th in less than a min i heard the shots go off. myself along w a crowd of others went to the victim to see how he was. the woman trying to have him remain alert was told by the victim that .she knew the guy. he was her friend. when he said this to her she just kept on saying . do u have a strong soul? u do have a strong soul. . . . . all i know is the outer richmond is no safer than the western part of sf. b safe out there everyone.
@neighbor
most of what you are saying doesn’t make sense. ” the outer richmond is no safer than the western part of sf” The outer richmond IS the western part of sf
Are you saying the victim was friends with the shooter?…or the woman helping the victim was friends with the victim?
@ #18, if that’s the case, I hope you are in contact with the police. You might have seen more than you realize.
Richmond district, especially outer, has a lot less violent crime than just about any other part of the city. Please don’t say silly things Neighbor.
Neighbor refers to the victim as both a he and a she. What’s the real story?? hopefully they knew each other and it was a personal beef, rather than a random shooting in the neighborhood.
and the richmond, despite what shows up in the weekly police blotter (which is probably the stufff that shows up in other neighborhood crime blotters), is one of the safer neighborhoods in the city. PUH-LEASE. hunter’s point, western addition, excelsior, the mission, tenderloin??
I wish the other poster would clarify the other details but the victim is definitely a man.
Richmond Police are not investigating this crime, CIU ( Crime Investigating Unit) downtown is. I am confused. The Lady helping the Victim knew the shooter, or the Victim knew the shooter? Was the Victim and the lady helping him did they know each other? Wow that someone saw that same guy sitting in the car moments before Neighbor 18 -remarks. I hope that Lady goes forward as to her friend is. This is very scary and it still has me shaken up. I hope they don’t put this on the back burner.
Again, if we had strategically placed surveillance cameras throughout San Francisco, we would be able to 1) more easily identify criminals, post-crime; and, many criminals might be deterred (including taggers, who are also criminals, and guilty of causing thousands of $$$ worth of damage with a $3 can of paint).
I was walking past the large billboard in the commercial parking lot just down the street from the 4 Star Theater a few nights ago. A new sign had been up for a few days and it was badly tagged. Every prior sign has been tagged. That same night I saw another newly painted commercial building tagged. I walk in the Richmond almost every day, and notice that the taggers are overwhelming the City’s (and landlord’s) ability to respond.
Note also that there is a gang element starting to seep its way into the Richmond. For context, if anyone has ever been to North Beach on a weekend night, especially in the area around Broadway and Columbus, you see a crowd that is very similar in general demeanor to some of the creeps that roam in the Richmond these days. They are little more than low-life scum looking for an opportunity.
Another thing I’ve been noticing is criminal trashing of donations that have been placed on sidewalks for next day pickup by charitable organizations. I’ve seen that 4 times in the last two days – in one case, a perfectly good )or what was a perfectly good) 32″ flat panel TV set purposely broken and tagged with the words “bad white boys”, followed by gang signs.
Our police department cannot be everywhere at once; why not help them with a tool (surveillance cameras) that would have been able to record the license plate number – or see the faces of – the criminals who did that shooting? Or, being able to more easily identify the creeps who are tagging every building in sight?
We can either take the next steps to better surveillance as a tool of law enforcement, or we can watch the slow decline of the Richmond District. Declines like this don’t happen overnight, but they DO have
“tipping points” – i.e. at some point, word will get out among criminal scum that general disrespect for property and person is easily obtained in our rather benign neighborhoods, then the floodgates open and we’ll have a real problem on our hands. We need to all be more aware; call the police when we see ANYTHING untoward, or suspect; and, lobby for more and better surveillance to be used as both an apprehension tool and deterrent to further crime.
Four years ago I could take a long walk at 12:00Am in this District, and listen to the foghorns. No way would I even think about doing that today, as a recent look at the police blotter shows that personal crime is on the uptick. Let’s do something about this!
I think we need to do neighborhood watch, how do we set up doing that, this would be a good start!
My man and I were on the roof less than one block away when the shots were fired. We could not see any of the actual action. I remember 4 shots. Possibly 5. I feel like the (delayed) fifth sound was not a shot, but some other loud metallic noise. We’d gone down into the house by then. I looked at the clock and it said 6:48pm. After the initial shots, we saw several neighbors on phones, and we heard someone screaming “help” and we saw people running toward the corner of 29th and Geary. The shots were loud and sounded like a shotgun, but they were too rapid to have time to reload. Professional help responded in less than ten minutes. Thanks, RichmondSFblog for keeping us posted on the investigation.
@Richmond Resident – http://sfsafe.org is a good place to start. They offer training and organization to get neighborhood watch groups set up.
http://sfsafe.org/services/neighborhood-watch/
Sarah B.
I was gardening in my backyard on 21st Ave/Anza and heard the shots. I knew they were gunshots (I heard 5) right away, as I lived 4 years in Oakland near Fruitvale on an upper level apartment that had a deck and a view, but, sadly, way too much crime – my only burglary in 35 years in the Bay Area was in that apartment and gunshots were nightly. Does anyone know how the gun-shot victim is faring? I agree with a previous post, the media is not interested in this story as I had a difficult time finding it on Monday morning. The Richmond District has come down a notch in the past 5 years and I blame any upswing in crime when school is out and more recently, the increase in closed stores and restaurants. The less street traffic: shoppers and kids running around, the more opportunity for a darker element to enter. Please do not attack Section 8 housing. Most are families with young children. If we are not suffering and distracted by personal loss and woes, then we should train ourselves to be more observant. Responsible citizens keep a neighborhood safe. But, it takes effort. I “walked” through a 4-way stop sign on my corner because there was a car accident a week and pedestrian near-missed daily. But, it took me 6 months and a lot of leg-work, which I could afford at that time in my life. If you are able, and willing, look around and see what you can do to help keep our ‘hood safe. The tagging is very, very bad and when our house was tagged, I called the cops immediately. Their advice: paint over it at once. The bottom line is, if you have lived here for some time, you start to like this neighborhood and will try to figure out ways to keep it safe for yourself and your kids. But, it does “take a village” to make anything you love turn out right.
Not long ago someone crow-barred our front door to the lobby then went inside the garage and broke windows in the cars inside while ruffling through the interiors. Still though, Richmond is light years ahead of many other neighborhoods. I feel safe walking lake street any time of day which I can’t say for many neighborhoods. Hell I am afraid to drive through Hunters Point and certain Bayview Areas.
@Sarah B. Thanks for the tip. I’ve been interested in supporting a neighborhood watch and just send an inquiry to the sfsafe.org email site.
Once I hear back on that I’ll post something here for anyone interested.
I’m at 28th and California and distinctly heard 6 shots – 2 slow and 4 fast ones. I remember because I thought to myself that’s how many bullets a gun barrel holds and wondered if they were actually gunshots.
Has there been any progress on the case?
i heard the reason the guy shot him was because they were cutting each on and off in the roads.. it was reported in the chinese newspaper
#34 Penelope, can you cut and paste what the chinese newspaper said, on here so we can read it, as far as I know , his care was parked.
The victim was released from hospital, and is back home recovering….it wasn’t road rage or random, it was over money owed.
To #36 – you sound like you have the inside scoop. If it was over money , then he knew his assailant. I hope he paid what he owed. Otherwise what’s to keep them from coming back. This is not just about him, but everyone else that lives on his block or bldg. No one wants to be out on the sidewalk , no one wants to be caught up in the cross fire. I hope he makes this right, if what you say is true!
To #37 (RICHMOND RESIDENT): You said you hope the victim “makes this right” is he’s in debt to the person who perpetrated this crime, because you dear getting caught up in a vendetta. Whatever money was owed – if, indeed that was the case – is now officially off the table.
This is all speculation, because we don’t have details, but if what #36 said is true, that money is now off the table. The person who did this is a now wanted as a criminal, and is officially on the lam. If s/he was known to the victim, it won’t be long before s/he is standing in front of a judge, and not to long after that sitting in a cell for a LONG time, where /s/he belongs. One don’t assault people who owe one money; if one does, one is a criminal who deserves everything the law can dish out.
What you should be worried about is whether the scum who did this gets caught, and encourage anyone who knows anything to report back to the police. Whoever did this is not going to get monetary payback; they are going to get really hard time.
I like the idea of people getting together and maybe approaching the SFPD, Richmond Station–and let them know how we feel about the direction our neighborhood is going. Around the corner from me on 28th Avenue is an abandoned house that has had a series of squatters, including the ones that turned out to have robbed Tigges at gunpoint at 3:00 in the afternoon last fall. The house gets boarded up and then new miscreants find their way in. I never see police on that street–given the asking price of a home in this neighborhood…I think we deserve the police presence.
As far as the victim “owing anyone money”….no. Anyone walking around ready to shoot people is criminally insane or severely unbalanced, it has nothing to do with $.
To # 37 – what i meant by make it right, is i hope he can make peace with all of this, its awful what happened, I am freaked by it, and just want some peace, so maybe i used the wrong words, No i didn’t mean vendetta and keep it going, just make some peace!
well that makes me feel MUCH better–that this was a personal issue, rather than a random shooting that could happen to any of us.
When our car got stolen out in front of our house several months ago (31st @ California) it did not even make the police blotter so who knows how much crime is going on in our neighborhood that we are not even aware of. When the police came he mentioned to my husband that there are 4 or 5 specific properties in The Richmond where most of the local trouble stems from. My husband doesn’t remember the specifics but the house on 28th Ave mentioned above could be one of them. The car was later found stripped near the airport so this was not a joyride theft. I think taking back the neighborhood from criminal interlopers and local thugs is a great idea. @Stephen, do post back on the blog when you learn more about what we can do!
If anyone has any information pertaining to this incident, plase contact Sgt. Maguire # 1158 from SFPD Criminal Investigations Unit (415) 553-1753 or at thomas.j.maguire@sfgov.org
I’ve lived in the Avenues for more than 20 years. Until maybe 5-8 years ago, the vast majority of crime here was car burglaries. The enormous uptick in graffiti and bike fencing (gangs), coupled with massage parlors (prostitution, drugs), empty storefronts, and violent crime….and this neighborhood–MY neighborhood–is degrading more and more before my eyes. The scenic beauty is still here, but c’mon city officials: how much longer are you going to look the other way? We do need a greater police presence (making traffic stops on Geary alone during rush hour could probably fund a few more officers). I wish we didn’t need this, but obviously criminals are finding a new home here in this part of the city. The longer storefronts remain empty, graffiti remains on walls, and drivers are allowed to treat JFK Drive, Geary, and other east-west streets in The Richmond like freeways–the more the behavior will become entrenched, and the harder it will be to significantly put a lid on it. Eric Mar’s office and PR person have been curiously MIA on this blog lately.
renee said: “The longer storefronts remain empty, graffiti remains on walls…the more the behavior will become entrenched, and the harder it will be to significantly put a lid on it”.
This. Where is our city in creating disincentives for landlords who let their properties lie fallow for years? No one can tell me that a downward adjustment in rent wouldn’t put businesses in place. I’m for mandatory fines for landlords who let a retail space lie fallow for more than a year. Yes, they own the property, but no residential property owner would be permitted to let their building go to trash. This is unacceptable, and it’s on Mar and the other Supervisors to come up with a solution.
If a property lies fallow for more than a year, the CIty should fine the landlord the last recorded monthly rent until the place is rented. If the property lies fallow for more than three years, the city should exercise eminent domain and take it away.
Here is Eric Mars Contact
http://www.sfbos.org/index.aspx?page=2101
Just checking if there is any moderation on this website. Or do they allow any speculation as to the cause of the shooting? I think it was two Mexican luchaderos who shot him.
Yes, there is moderation on this site. Please don’t test it
Sarah B.
I witnessed the shooting as it took place. There is a lot of bad info out there. I had JUST arrived in town and was showing my wife my old junior high school (Presidio Middle School). I had driven along 3 sides of the school and was stopped eastbound at 29th and Geary where a left turn northbound on 29th was prohibited. Our windows were open. We then heard 3 gunshots, looked left and on the northeast corner of the intersection saw a car pulled approximately abreast of the parked black civic (victim’s car). The passenger door of the shooter’s car was open and a light skinned man with dark hair was shooting a pistol with his arm extended toward the parked Civic. He was less than 3 feet from the victim’s car. The victim OPENED HIS PASSENGER DOOR and tried to escape the gunfire by crawling out of the passenger door onto the sidewalk. He did NOT walk around his car. As he was exiting the vehicle, 3-4 more shots were fired, and the shooter got back into the perp car and they drove off. The victim was conscious and moving and he yelled for help.
We drove away to escape the danger, called 911 and then returned to the scene 2 minutes later. the ambulance and police were on the scene. We gave statements to the police. The shooter’s car was dark and fairly small. I can speculate on the ethnicity of the shooter but I cannot be sure so I will not add anything about that here.
Note: the policeman told us that this event is extremely rare for Richmond and he considered it an isolated incident.
As to the poster who wanted to blame the landlords for the vacant storefronts, residential housing, etc. This city is extremely hostile to landlords of every stripe. The problem here is excessive regulations and taxation. This is why residential landlords are letting their units go unrented and why commercial landlords are doing the same. Don’t expect Eric Mar to help. This city needs an entirely different attitude toward business and capitalism and until it reaches the level of Detroit or beyond, I don’t think it will have “hit bottom” enough to mend its ways.
To those who think the city should take over unrented commercial properties by eminent domain (besides being unconstitutional) just WHAT do you think the city will do with them?
@boots Too many landlords in this city are pathetically irresponsible – with few exceptions. Why do you think we need a Tenants union? “Excessive regulations and taxation”? Oh, Boo Hoo! btw, this city will never hit bottom, like Detroit, and our landlords know it! They can just sit on their idle properties – letting them look like trash, encouraging vandalism, etc. They DON’T care, because the value of their property is almost guaranteed to rise in SF.
We should be creating SERIOUS penalties for commercial landlords who keep properties vacant for more than one year. Then, watch them start renting them out. As far as vacant residential property, that’s rare in SF, but there should be similar penalties. Hit ’em where it hurts – in their greedy pocketbooks!