Friday, November 30, 2007

"Shot Spotters" coming to San Francisco

Quoted from SF Weekly:

"In a nutshell, the spotters are sophisticated microphones that can discern between gunfire and other percussive noises (firecrackers, Fred Sanford’s car backfiring) and relay the exact location of the shooting to police."

Oakland and Redwood City as well as a few other cities around the US already have it in use. Wonder what this will reveal about SF, in terms of unreported shootings of course, but also about how the police respond to said shootings.

Here's the article.

And here's a follow up article.

Two men shot, gang leader arrested

Two men were shot in a drive-by in the Silver Terrace area of SF, around 10 p.m. Wednesday night. The victims were an 18 year-old man who was hit in the arm, and a 34 year-old man, who was hit in the leg.


Also, an alleged gang leader of the Western Addition's Eddy Rock gang was arrested on drug charges in Novato.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Man shot in Visitacion Valley

Male victim shot in leg in Visitacion Valley

By Jesse Dungan
November 27, 2007

A male shooting victim managed to take himself to San Francisco General Hospital Monday night after he was shot in the city's Visitacion Valley neighborhood, police said.

The victim arrived at the hospital at about 10 p.m. and was treated for a bullet wound to his leg, according to police.

Police said the victim had been in the area of Loehr Street in the Visitacion Valley neighborhood when he heard five or six shots fired. The victim sustained one gunshot wound to his lower leg.

No arrests have been made and no suspect description was immediately available.

link

Sunday, November 25, 2007

2 employees shot at Sunset District bar

Two injured in SF shooting

Sabin Russell

Sunday, November 25, 2007

(11-25) 11:56 PST San Francisco -- Two men working at the Fire Fly Sports Bar in the outer Sunset District were shot early Sunday morning by a would-be patron who was trying to enter the bar but was turned away at the door, San Francisco police said.

The incident occurred at 2:20 a.m. in front of the bar at 2457 Noriega Street, between 31st and 32nd Avenues. One unidentified employee was shot in the back, while a bullet grazed the ankle of the second.

Both were transported to San Francisco General Hospital. Police are searching for the lone male suspect, who fled the scene.

link

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Man shot in Bernal Heights

SAN FRANCISCO -- A man is in serious condition after being shot in his car Friday night in San Francisco's Bernal Heights neighborhood.

The shooting was reported at about 10 p.m. in the 900 block of Ellsworth Street, police said.

Police are searching for at least two suspects who opened fire into the victim's car, wounding him twice in the back.

The man is being treated at San Francisco General Hospital.

link

Friday, November 23, 2007

Two shot after leaving Bayview party

STREET VIOLENCE: TWO SHOT IN BAYVIEW DISTRICT
23 November 2007

Two people were shot early this morning after leaving a party in San Francisco’s Bayview district, police said.

The shooting occurred at about 1 a.m. in the area of Keith Street, according to police. A male and a female had left a party and were walking home when shots were fired.

Police said the female victim was shot in her left leg and the male victim suffered a gunshot wound to his right leg.

The victims managed to drive themselves to San Francisco General Hospital where they were listed in stable condition, according to police.

The shooting is under investigation.

link

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Man shot dead in Portola District

Fatal shooting in SF

Michael Cabanatuan, Chronicle Staff Writer

Thursday, November 22, 2007


(11-22) 10:22 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- A man was shot to death early this morning in the Portola District, San Francisco police said.

Police were called at about 1:50 a.m. to the 700 block of Bacon Street, where they found a male victim who had been shot at least once, police said. The victim, who police did not identify, was pronounced dead at the scene.

link

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Woman raped twice by the same man

S.F. woman sexually assaulted by same man twice in 5 days, police say

Marisa Lagos, Chronicle Staff Writer

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

(11-21) 15:16 PST SAN FRANCISCO - A San Francisco woman was sexually assaulted by the same man twice in one week, once on the street in the Glen Park neighborhood and once in her garage, police said today.

Investigators said the 27-year-old woman was first attacked about 5:30 p.m. Nov. 10 as she walked from the Glen Park BART station toward Bosworth Street. A woman who was with the male assailant yelled at the victim, demanding her purse, then slapped and pushed her to the pavement after she grabbed it, police said.

The man then pushed the woman down and sexually assaulted her, police said. Two women on the street saw what was happening and yelled, scaring the man away, police said. He ran north onto Lippard Street.

Five days later, the woman was driving up to her home when the man reappeared, this time with a gun, and followed her into the garage. He then sexually assaulted the woman a second time, police said.

Investigators described the man as black and in his 20s, 5-foot-11 and 200 pounds, with short black hair and brown eyes. The letters INRI were tattooed on his right forearm, police said, and he had a mole under his right cheek.

The woman who was with him in the first attack was described as Latino and in her 20s, 5-foot-3 and 140 pounds, with drawn-on "high-brows" and pink lipstick, police said. She spoke with a thick accent, investigators said.

Police are especially anxious to talk to the two women whose shouts scared off the assailant during the first attack. Anyone with information is asked to call Inspectors Dan Deydon or Sidney Laws at (415) 553-1361 or the anonymous tip line at (415) 575-4444.

Composite drawings of the suspects are available at the Police Department's Web site, links.sfgate.com/ZBPY.

link

Woman stabbed in the Sunset

Arrest Made In SF Sunset District Stabbing
CBS 5 CrimeWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) ―

A 23-year-old suspect was taken into custody early Wednesday morning on multiple charges in connection with a stabbing that took place in the Sunset District, San Francisco police said.

A 26-year-old San Francisco woman told police that she was at a 7-Eleven store on 46th Avenue at Judah Street when she believes she was followed to her home.

When she reached the front of her home, 23-year-old Robert Hancock allegedly approached her. The two were involved in a verbal exchange when the suspect reportedly pulled out a knife and stabbed her multiple times, said Sgt. Steve Mannina.

The woman, who was transported to San Francisco General Hospital with non-life threatening injuries, told police she doesn't know why the suspect stabbed her.

A witness reported the incident and a description of the suspect to police today at around 1:30 a.m. Units searching the area around the Taraval police station spotted the suspect nearby.

Hancock allegedly ran from one officer but was taken into custody by another officer at approximately 1:51 a.m. Hancock is being held on charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault, stalking, possession of drug paraphernalia, probation violation and resisting arrest, said Mannina.

link

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Woman shot in back in robbery attempt

Woman, 19, shot in SF during attempted robbery

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

(11-19) 19:05 PST San Francisco -- A 19-year-old woman was shot in the back today in the Visitacion Valley section of San Francisco during an attempted street robbery, police said.

The victim was listed as stable at San Francisco General Hospital after being shot at 5:39 p.m. at Velasco Avenue and Santos Street. Two suspects fled and remain at large.

link

Monday, November 19, 2007

SF had the most reported hate crimes of any Bay Area city in 2006

FBI: SF has most hate crimes in Bay Area

Nov. 19, 2007 (BCN) - San Francisco had the largest reported number of hate crimes in 2006 among the Bay Area's three major cities followed by San Jose and Oakland had the least, according to new FBI statistics released today.

San Francisco, with a population of approximately 746,000, had a total of 94 reported hate crime incidents in 2006, including 25 that were race-based, 20 religion-based, 38 based on sexual orientation and 11 based on ethnicity, according to the FBI's Hate Crime Statistics 2006 report.

San Jose, the largest city in the Bay Area with a population of approximately 920,000, had 29 reported hate crimes in 2006 including 13 that were race-based, five religion-based, six based on sexual orientations and five based on ethnicity, according to the bureau.

Oakland, the smallest major Bay Area city with a population of approximately 399,000, only had two reported hate crimes in 2006, one race-based and one based on ethnicity, according to the bureau.

Among smaller Bay Area cities, Alameda, Albany and Antioch had one reported hate crime incident each in 2006, Belmont had one, Berkeley 10, Brentwood and Burlingame one each, Concord had seven, Cotati, Daly City, El Cerrito and Fremont one each, Half Moon Bay and Hollister each had two, Livermore had four, Los Gatos, Menlo Park, Milpitas, Morgan Hill and Mountain View each had one, Newark had three, Novato and Pacifica had two each, Palo Alto had three, Petaluma had two, Pittsburg, Pleasant Hill and Pleasanton had one each, Redwood City had one, Richmond had three, Rohnert Park two, San Bruno and San Leandro had one each, San Mateo had 14, San Pablo one, San Rafael had five, Santa Clara one, Santa Cruz had 13, Santa Rosa six, Sonoma, South San Francisco and Suisun had one each, Union City had four, Walnut Creek had three and Watsonville had four.

link

Sunday, November 18, 2007

1 killed, 8 injured in 3 seperate SF shootings

3 separate shootings in S.F.

Bay City News

Sunday, November 18, 2007

(11-18) 05:15 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Police are searching for suspects in three separate shootings in San Francisco this morning that left one person dead and eight more injured, according to officials.

At approximately 3:20 a.m., officers responded to the area of Treat Avenue and 23rd Street in the city's Mission District and found three victims suffering gunshot wounds, police said.

One person died and two were transported to San Francisco General Hospital, according to police.

About an hour earlier, at 2:10 a.m., officers responded to the 500 block of Florida Street, also located in the Mission District, where a dance club had apparently just closed, police said.

A fight that allegedly broken out in the club earlier may have prompted an unknown suspect to then shoot two people in their legs, according to police.

Both victims were in stable condition and transported to a local hospital for treatment to their wounds, police said.

Just 20 minutes earlier, a drive-by shooting in the city's South of Market neighborhood left four victims injured, according to police.

An unidentified vehicle was driving at Mission and 11th streets at about 1:50 a.m. when at least one suspect inside the car began firing shots at a group of people, police said.

Four victims were struck with bullets before the vehicle sped off, police said.

The victims were transported to San Francisco General Hospital where they are reportedly in stable condition.

Suspects remain at large for all three incidents, police added.

link

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Man shot dead on Polk Street

Fatal shooting in San Francisco
Erin Allday

Saturday, November 17, 2007


(11-17) 11:10 PST San Francisco -- A man was shot and killed early today after a brief fight with two other men in San Francisco, police said.

The victim, who was in his 20s, was shot in the hip on Polk Street near McAllister Street at about 1:30 a.m., police said. He was taken to San Francisco General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police have not released his name.

The two suspects fled the scene and no arrests have been made. It is not known whether the suspects knew the victim before the shooting, police said.

link

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Man robs bank, goes on carjacking spree

SF: BANK ROBBER ARRESTED AFTER CHASE THROUGH CITY STREETS
11/13/07 5:00 PST

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

A hard-luck bank robber was chased by construction workers and denied twice in carjacking attempts before police caught him this morning in a wild chase through San Francisco, Sgt. Neville Gittens said.

Sacramento resident David Bryant, 51, robbed a Wachovia bank at 200 Pine St. at 9:05 a.m., according to Gittens.

He allegedly jumped over the bank counter and grabbed an undisclosed amount of money from the cash register before fleeing on foot.

Bryant was seen running from the bank, dropping money as he went, according to witnesses. Trying to get away, he brandished a knife in an attempt to carjack a woman driving a Volvo on California Street, said Gittens. The woman drove away, but nearby construction workers saw the incident and began chasing Bryant.

They followed him down California Street and Bryant then tried to carjack the driver of a van, who also refused to give up his vehicle.

Bryant wasn't about to stop trying. At the intersection of Bush and Sansome streets, he allegedly stopped a cab and told the driver at knifepoint to take him to the Tenderloin neighborhood, according to Gittens. Construction workers were not able to follow him beyond that point.

However, police were able to stop and arrest Bryant on Leavenworth Street at 9:15 a.m., according to Gittens.

He was charged with five counts of robbery, two counts of attempted car jacking, one count carjacking, and one count kidnapping.

link

Monday, November 12, 2007

Fatal shooting at the Metreon. Victim was "walking too slow"

That would be the second murder at the Metreon so far this year.

Update: The motive is now known: the victim was walking too slow



Teenager arrested in fatal Metreon shooting

Tanya Schevitz,Marisa Lagos, Chronicle Staff Writers

Monday, November 12, 2007


(11-12) 08:35 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- Authorities today identified the victim of Sunday's fatal shooting at San Francisco's Metreon shopping center and movie theater as Michael Price, Jr., of Oakland.

Price, 18, was shot to death after an argument with at least one other young man just inside the building's entrance, according to witnesses and police.

Minutes later, a 15-year-old suspect was arrested a block away from where the Sunday evening shooting took place, said Sgt. Neville Gittens, a San Francisco police spokesman. The suspect was arrested on Mission Street near 5th Street and was in possession of a handgun at the time of his arrest, according to Gittens.

Police officials would not release any other information about the suspect because of his age but Gittens said the teenager is being held at the Youth Guidance Center on suspicion of murder and a weapons charge. A crowd surged out the front doors of the Metreon at the corner of Fourth and Mission streets moments after the 7:05 p.m. shooting near the main movie theater ticket counter. Police, who were directing traffic outside because of the crush prompted by a nearby Oracle Corp. conference, rushed in and found the victim lying on the floor, Gittens said.

The victim, whose name was withheld by police, was shot "numerous times" and died at San Francisco General Hospital at 7:30 p.m.

While a motive is not known, the victim and suspect had been arguing, Gittens said. Investigators do not believe the incident was gang related, he added.

"It was just one of those encounters," he said.

San Francisco resident James Galindez said he and Judy Anderson walked by four young men who were arguing just before the shooting.

"There were four males around 17 or 18 years old, and they were saying, 'I'll pop a cap in your ass,' " he said. "They were arguing, and (Anderson) pulled me away. ... We walked away to Sanraku (restaurant), and that's when we heard the shots, pop, pop, pop."

Gittens said police were able to interview a large number of witnesses after the shooting, though he was not sure whether any of those people were the victim's or suspect's friends.

link

Thursday, November 8, 2007

SF crimes reported in the past 90 days

Stats from August 10th to November 8th.

vehicle theft: 1892
narcotics/drugs: 2434 (925 in the Tenderloin. No surprise there...)
rapes: 25
robberies: 935
aggravated assaults: 1965
burglaries: 1182
larceny/theft: 6294
arson: 59
vandalism: 1748
homicide: 23

total: 16557


Here are the stats from May 5th until August 02.


Vehicle theft: 1394
Drugs/Narcotics: 1948
Rapes: 21
Robbery: 894
aggravated assault: 1715
Burglary: 1180
Larceny/Theft: 5305
Arson: 67
Vandalism: 1662
Homicide: 30

total: 14213


So that means the 180 day total, minus 8 days in August, is:

vehicle theft: 3286
narcotics/drugs: 4382
rapes: 46
robberies: 1829
aggravated assaults: 3680
burglaries: 2362
larceny/theft: 11599
arson: 126
vandalism: 3410
homicide: 54 (there was 1 more murder in the 8 days missed)

TOTAL: 30771


For all of 2006, SF had:

vehicle theft: 6636
rape: 154
robbery: 3858
Aggravated assault: 2435
burglary: 6465
Larceny/theft: 23891
arson: 226
Homicide: 86


In just 180 days, San Francisco had 1041 more assaults than it had in all of 2005, and 1235 more than all of 2006 (2639 assaults in '05, 2435 in '06).


I really wish the SFPD would compile and make public all these statistics themselves. Or at least make data for the WHOLE year so far available on the crime maps.

Anyways, as for assault rates, SF looks set to possibly come out with over 7,000 assaults at the end of year, and an assault rate of almost 1000 per 100,000 residents. SF's assault rate in 2005 was 352.3 per 100,000, and in 2006 it was 324.7). Detroit had an Assault rate of 1400 per 100,000 in 2005. Oakland had one of 654.2. SF is getting up there...

SFPD Crimemap mystery

Well here's something I've noticed...

The SFPD's crimemaps were already a little frustrating to use, what with information that only goes back 90 days, and no ability to look at statistics for the city as a whole...but it's been taken a step further. The ability to search for homicides has been removed. Arson, rape, robbery, larceny, etc, etc, it's all there. But you can no longer search for murders. It's been this way for at least a month it seems. Not too sure what the reason is behind this, but it's sort of a coincidence when you take this year's record murder rate into account...

Random stuff from the past couple days

These are all taken from the tips section at SFist:


- DEAD BODY FOUND
Turk and Larkin. There is a sh*t load of police and the coroner van just arrived. The body was found in a sitting position underneath the garbage shoot in the alley way.

Male
Age: unknown
Race: unknown

17 hours, 3 minutes ago


- Six cop cars, fire engine and ambulance at 200 Brannan, 3:30am ish. One man taken away in ambulance. What is happening in my quiet South Beach? This is the same ground-floor apartment that set of a big fire cracker in the street last week.

1 day, 8 hours ago


- At 2:45am this morning, I woke to six gunshots sounding extremely close to Page and Broderick. Cops said they had someone on the way, but haven't heard anything. Anyone?

1 day, 8 hours ago


Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Man shot in the Tenderloin

SF: MAN SHOT IN CHEST IN TENDERLOIN NEIGHBORHOOD
11/06/07 8:35 PST

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

A 19-year-old man was shot in the chest in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood tonight, police said.

The shooting was reported at around 7 p.m. at Ellis and Jones streets, said a police official.

No other information was immediately available.

link

Police Investigating Bank Robberies

SF: POLICE INVESTIGATING SERIAL BANK ROBBERIES
11/06/07 8:05 PST

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

San Francisco police believe one man is responsible for six bank robberies that have occurred in San Francisco and Oakland over the course of several months.

The robberies spanned from June 13 to Aug. 20, police said. Five were at banks in San Francisco's Chinatown and another was in Oakland.

The suspect's method is to demand money by passing the bank teller a note, police said. He is described as a thin, middle-aged Chinese man standing between 5 foot 6 inches and 5 foot 7 inches tall. He wears a cap or hat during the heists, police said.

Information regarding the series of robberies is asked to contact Inspector Dan Gardner at (415) 553-9255 or FBI Special Agent David Walden at (415) 553-7400.

link

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Two shot dead in Hunters Point

- Sir Marcus Bibbs, 21, was shot to death, and another man wounded, by two teenage suspects, at 8 a.m. near Garlington Court and La Salle Avenue.
- An unidentified man in his early 20's was shot to death at 3 a.m. this morning at West point and Middle Point Roads.



Also, a man was arrested today on suspicion of murdering a woman in a SOMA hotel room in 2006.

Shootings, stabbings, and arson

- The morning of October 25th, a 38 year-old man was shot by several suspects in a robbery in the Tenderloin. He received life-threatening injuries, and some of the suspects were arrested.
- 2 separate shootings sent 3 to the hospital last Friday. Two victims were hit in Visitacion Valley, and received non life-threatening injuries. The third victim was shot in Hunters Point, and received life-threatening injuries.
- Also last Friday, a man attempted to kill six nuns by setting a convent on fire in the Portola District (news incorrectly states the location as the Bayview). Luckily the fire went out, and he was arrested.
- last Sunday, a man was stabbed on 7th Street in SoMa, receiving life-threatening injuries.
- the guy who set burning man on fire early was arrested after a tip that he was planning to burn down Grace Cathedral. He was found on the cathedral steps with some illegal fireworks, and apprehended.
- On Tuesday night, police opened fire on some robbery suspects at a McDonalds on Ocean Avenue, near City College. One bullet went through the wall of a house and slightly injured a woman inside.