Activists Rally For Suspect Fatally Shot By SFPD In Mission
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Activists in San Francisco's Mission District Wednesday evening gathered and marched to mourn a robbery suspect killed in an officer-involved shooting Tuesday night.
Police fatally shot a man as they were investigating a robbery near 20th and Capp streets around 10:35 p.m. Tuesday.
According to police, two people flagged down officers and described being robbed by the occupants of a black Honda Civic. Officers caught up with a vehicle matching that description nearby on Capp Street between 21st and 22nd streets.
Two people in the vehicle were detained. Officers tried to detain a third person, who was reportedly in the car's trunk, and that's when the officer-involved shooting occurred. A gun was found in the car's trunk, police said.
Police have not released further details about exactly how the shooting occurred.
In a video obtained by KPIX 5, a female officer's voice can clearly be heard saying in Spanish -- "Show me you left hand, show me your left hand, show me your left hand. We are going to shoot. Show me your left hand."
The suspect opens the trunk and appears to fire at police. A flurry of gunfire comes in response.
In videos of the incident, neighbors on the street at the time can be seen raising their hands in the air. Others ducked for cover inside their own homes.
"We got on the floor because we live on the first floor," said neighbor Ricardo Sanchez.
Area resident Albert Balcazar said the officers gave the armed suspect plenty of time to surrender.
"They gave him five to ten minutes of instructions before bullets went off," said Balcazar. "They gave him a long time to get out. They wanted him to live. I know they wanted him to live."
A group gathered for a vigil to remember the man shot on Tuesday at 5 p.m. near the site of the shooting at Capp and 20th streets. Signs and posters held by mourners identified the suspect as 19-year-old Jesus Delgado.
Shortly after 6 p.m., a group of activists took to the streets.
About 100 protesters marched through the Mission District with signs before stopping to rally at the Mission police station at 17th and Valencia streets. At one point, the group blocked traffic at the intersection of 20th and Mission streets.
The protest at the police station spilled into the intersection. Authorities blocked off the street and diverted traffic. A group of officers was lined up outside the station entrance.
The shooting remains under investigation by the SFPD Homicide Detail, the San Francisco District Attorney's Office Independent Investigation Bureau, the San Francisco Department of Police Accountability, the SFPD Internal Affairs Division and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the SFPD 24-Hour Tip Line at (415) 575-4444 or Text a Tip to TIP411 and begin the text message with "SFPD."
The police department will be holding a public town hall meeting to discuss the incident within ten days.
Earlier, a handful of members of the group Justice For Luis Gongora Pat rallied outside the Mission police station at Valencia and 17th streets to protest the recent police shooting.
Adriana Camarena with the group said Wednesday's impromptu rally was a reaction to "this new tragedy."
"We want SFPD to change ... There's no police accountability, no one to enforce it," Camarena said.
Group members earlier met at the site of the fatal officer-involved shooting of Luis Gongora Pat, which occurred near the corner of Shotwell and 19th streets on April 7, 2016.
Wednesday marked exactly one year and 11 months since that shooting.
Officers shot Gongora Pat, 45, several times after Homeless Outreach Team members called police because they allegedly saw him swinging a large kitchen knife.
The officers reportedly told him to put down the knife, in both English and Spanish, several times and struck him with less-lethal beanbag rounds. However, officers shot him when he ran toward them with the knife, according to police.
Gongora Pat's family has since been advocating for San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon to charge the officers with murder.
"He never charges any officers in a shooting. Never since he entered office," Camarena said.
Last week, Gongora Pat's family met with Gascon for the first time since the shooting to discuss updates in the investigation.
According to the group, Gascon explained why the law makes it hard for him to charge officers in shootings but said he is between six to eight weeks away from reaching a decision on whether the officers, identified as Sgt. Nate Steger and Officer Michael Mellone, will be charged.
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