Bayview Police Shooting: Cops Checking Muni Fares Kill Man As He Flees (GRAPHIC VIDEO)

On Saturday afternoon, a 19-year old man was shot and killed by police conducting a routine Muni fare inspection in the Bayview.

(SCROLL DOWN FOR AFTERMATH VIDEO)

A little before 5 p.m., two uniformed SFPD officers were checking for tickets on the T-Third line at a station near the intersection of Third Street and Oakdale Avenue. Allegedly, when the officers attempted to detain the 19-year suspect, he fled on foot and was shot multiple times by police. The suspect eventually succumbed to his injuries and died later that night at an area hospital.

Neither of the officers were injured during the incident.

"Information is still preliminary," SFPD Sgt. Michael Andraychak told the Examiner, "but we believe that during the foot pursuit, the suspect fired at the uniformed officers."

However, ABC 7 reports there were some at the scene who disputed the police's official version of events:

Eyewitnesses...[told] ABC7 News they didn't see any shots being fired at the officers.

"I just seen shots going forward," said resident Henry Taylor. " I didn't see shots coming backwards."

Police said they have since recovered the gun the suspect reportedly used in the shooting, which had been removed from the scene by a bystander. "Due to the cooperation of the community, independent witnesses, and the incredible teamwork of the Bayview officers and the gang task force, we recovered the weapon at 10:30 last night," SFPD Chief Greg Suhr told KTVU during an AIDS walk in Golden Gate Park. "God bless the Bayview community members who had the courage to come forward and pretty much tell us the entire story."

SFPD had not publicly released the suspect's identity as of Sunday evening.

A few hours after the shooting took place, a gristly video was posted on YouTube depicting the tragic incident's bloody aftermath.

The video shows a large crowd gathering around the injured suspect, who is lying on ground in a pool of his own blood. The crowd appears largely hostile to the police and numerous bystanders can be seen expressing shock and dismay.

At about 0:15 on the video, what looks like a silver handgun can be seen on the sidewalk in the lower right-hand corner of the video. Around 1:21, a bystander can be seen picking up what appears to be a cellphone, presumably the victim's, off the sidewalk.

WATCH (GRAPHIC CONTENT):

This is the second time in as many weeks San Francisco's mass transit system has been the scene of a deadly police shooting. Earlier this month, BART police shot and killed Charles Hill at the Civic Center BART station. Police attest Hill was drunk at the time of the shooting and lunging at officers with a knife; however, much like this weekend's shooting, eyewitnesses have disputed the police's official version of events.

Around 1 a.m. Sunday morning, a group protesting the Bayview shooting coalesced in the Mission near the intersection of 16th and Valencia. Protestors made their way though the neighborhood causing minor property damage. No arrests were made. SFPD officers in riot gear quickly gathered in the area to make sure the late-night demonstration didn't get out of hand.

SF Appeal reports:

Bystanders said the crowd had gathered in response to Saturday's shooting, when a 19-year-old man was fatally shot by police in the city's Bayview neighborhood.

"They're rioting because people are pissed," one woman told Bay City News.

"My heart goes out to the family as they grieve the loss of their loved one," said Bayview Supervisor Malia Cohen in a written statement. "Today's shooting is under ongoing Police investigation, and I urge anyone with any information to notify SFPD immediately. I intend to review the results of the internal investigation from the Police Department to ensure Department protocol was followed."

Comments

[simsum]

03:59 PM on 07/21/2011

Apparently the shooting victim in Seattle was not pregnant:

http://www.sfexaminer.com/blogs/law-and-disorder/2011/07/kenneth-harding-s-alleged-seattle-victim-may-not-have-been-pregnant-s

[sixtoes]

02:21 AM on 07/21/2011

Always pay your fare if you use public transit in SF, because instead of an on-the-spot fine, you get an on-the-spot execution.

[coljr]

07:34 PM on 07/20/2011

Gruesome! Welcome to the jungle!

[simsum]

05:49 PM on 07/20/2011

The situation is very unclear, but there's one thing we know for sure: the San Francisco Police Department has a record that is just about as bad as Kenneth Gibson's.

See for example the New Yorkt Times article I cite below.

[stonewalker]

01:57 PM on 07/20/2011

Our innocent victim was a wanted man, for murder. Of a pregnant woman and her unborn. He was already convicted of pimping and having sex with a 13 year old girl. I notice the story is heavy on calling him a victim, not so heavy on the fact that he shot at police before they fired back.

His prior convictions would not excuse a shooting if he truly did not fire at police, but all I'm saying is all signs are pointing towards him being the kind of guy who would run from and shoot at police.

I look forward to the conclusion of this investigation... Tragedy all around that young man. He hurt a lot of people and was probably going to keep on doing it. 6 feet under is probably the best place for him...

[sadwitness]

10:47 PM on 07/19/2011

Gunshot residue was found on the hand of a man fatally shot by San Francisco police, officials said today, a finding that could bolster officers' assertion that the man opened fire on them before he was killed.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/07/19/BAUR1KCGBA.DTL#ixzz1SbsHYFEi

Some will undoubtedly claim conspiracy....

[simsum]

02:46 AM on 07/20/2011

Well I have to thank you, S, for stimulating this conversation. Because the more I look into the whole police situation - and I'm not from SF - the more things look not too good. Here's a 2010 tv report and a 2011 New York Times follow-up on a major SFPD drug scandal involving corruption in the crime lab.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/10/us/10narcs.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCl9Tzd9_Lk

This is not to say that Harding did or did not shoot at the police, it's just that the SFPD record of scandal hardly inspires the kind of confidence the public needs to have in its law enforcement officers.

[Fritzie Borgwardt]

01:22 PM on 07/20/2011

There are many questions to ask. The first question is, who will ask the right ones?
Various news accounts are saying that residue on the alleged gunman's hand could have come from a number of sources. The gun picked up by a "passerby" after the shooting has been recovered in the home of another "parolee?" Could this be the person who actually shot at police? Kenneth Wade Harding, the suspect who was killed, and his mother met with his parole officer ten hours before the Seattle shooting in which he was a suspect, according to his grandmother. In which case he likely should not have been in San Francisco, and of course would have run from Police to avoid the consequences of violating his parole. But while fleeing, would he try to fire at police from under his arm? Would you? That is the question that someone other than the police have to answer. If police have live audio to analyze, do they have live video? One newspaper said Harding was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. Another account says there was no move to call an ambulance as he lay dying. So many perceptions to create! Another account said the teen killed in the Seattle shooting for which Harding was a suspect was not pregnant.

[Fritzie Borgwardt]

06:21 PM on 07/19/2011

Did you see personally see him shoot at police? Or is that an assumption based on what you have read?

[sadwitness]

10:47 PM on 07/19/2011

Gunshot residue was found on the hand of a man fatally shot by San Francisco police, officials said today, a finding that could bolster officers' assertion that the man opened fire on them before he was killed.

[Fritzie Borgwardt]

12:14 PM on 07/20/2011

Who found it?

[garylloyd]

02:08 PM on 07/19/2011

Two days have passed and still no mention of the "citizen" who turned the gun in.

This person removed evidence from a crime scene. That's against the law. I need to know why this person hasn't been publicly identified and charged.

[Neets101]

08:16 AM on 07/19/2011

Just as it doesn't make sense that cops would shoot without provocation at someone jumping a bus fare, it also doesn't make sense that someone trying to slip under the radar and avoid the law would shoot at law enforcement trying to collect bus fare.

I would think the prime objective of the man shot would be to simply escape, since he could do so with the reasonable assumption of not being shot at over bus fare, and not pulling a weapon would enable him to slip away with greater odds of success.

Who knows... but it seems very odd.

[MMRDO]

01:29 PM on 07/19/2011

He was on parole and wanted for murder in Washington. If he was apprehended he would be back in Washington facing the next 20 years or so in prison. They don't become criminals because thinking is their strong suit, a lot of them are mentally ill and just violent by nature.

[simsum]

03:32 PM on 07/19/2011

Was he wanted or a person of interest?

[garylloyd]

03:45 AM on 07/19/2011

And as yet no arrest made of the person who walked off with the weapon. Worse still, the language used to described this person has changed from "private citizen" to "police informat."

Are we to believe it was a police informat who just happened by, picked up the gun, and kept it instead of immediately turning it over to the police? What kind of police informat is that?

Police "infomat" also means the police don't have to reveal who this person is. Well, that's not going to fly. If the guy walked off with the weapon he committed crime -- a serious one in the context of this case.

And then there's the video -- look at it: Instead of being much nearer to the body the photographer is so far away only faint details of the victim are seen. But the supposed gun is seen in frame .15. It's as if the sole purpose of the video was not to show us the victim, but to show us the gun in .15 after which the photographer is reported to have said a man in a hoodie came an picked up the gun.

In other words, the photographer knew it was a gun, did not pick it up or report it, and did not video the man who came an picked it up.

These two phantom people -- the "informat" in the hoodie and the photographer are the weak link in the police theory of the case.

[BigMyk]

01:45 PM on 07/19/2011

Dear God, that's fishing (looking for a reason to criticize) to the extreme. it makes so many assumptions it's not even funny.

The evidence is right ther ein the video for all to see. I honestly think some of these comments are examples of Backfire Bias ( http://thethinkerblog.com/?p=10289 ) .The more evidence that presents itself that the cops in question were reasonable in their actions just seems to entrench the opinions of people who hold general anti-law enforcement views to begin with.

SFGate reports that the City's ShotSpotter system detected 10 gun shots, the 1st shot 2 seconds before the other 9 started, which is consistent with the report that cops were returning fire. Several witnesses (some who were interviewed on camera by San Francisco TV stations) said they saw him shoot. ect ect.

I don't know what some of yall are looking for, but it seems to me that this man was a bad guy and got him self killed while trying to avoid capture.

[sadwitness]

02:40 PM on 07/19/2011

yep that's what happened.

[MMRDO]

11:40 PM on 07/18/2011

A lot of you are upset that this happened over a 2 dollar fare, no it did not happen over a 2 dollar fare. Had he been stopped, and ran through the system, he would be back in prison, he is also facing homicide charges so that probably had a lot to do with it too.

[gfm975]

12:30 AM on 07/19/2011

MMRO none of this would have happened if the POLICE had not chased him over the $2.00 fare. It's that simple.

And that is my las word on this.. good night all.

[OdinsEye]

02:29 AM on 07/19/2011

None of it would have happened if he did not try to get out of a fare. HE initiated the action, not the police. And the cops would not have shot him for simply running. HE introduced the threat of lethal force and the cops responded.

[MMRDO]

01:21 PM on 07/19/2011

He was a criminal if they hadn't chased him a clearly dangerous person would still be on the streets. Why does that sound like a better alternative to this? You want an armed felon on the streets?

[dbrett480]

11:15 PM on 07/18/2011

For all those that defended this thug, he is charged with being a pimp for a 13 year old and with murder.

This shooting is simply a case of a community being mislead by it's "leaders" into opposing the police instead of fighting crime. That is demonstrated by the video.

[simsum]

11:44 PM on 07/18/2011

Let us know when you have anything meaningful or logical to say.

[sadwitness]

10:49 PM on 07/19/2011

ignore the noise- there seems to be a need to tear down our communities by some

[sadwitness]

06:40 PM on 07/18/2011

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/18/child-porn-bust-harry-potter_n_902083.html

There is room for outrage over on this thread....no one here want to post???

[makestotalsense]

07:58 PM on 07/18/2011

You are sad....

[MotorcycleBoy]

08:16 PM on 07/18/2011

What are you talking about? There was no gun recovered at the 'Harry Potter' shooting.
The cop was likely shot by one of his fellow cops...or his own gun.

[garylloyd]

06:14 PM on 07/18/2011

This gun business is really starting to bother me. Who picks up a gun at a crime scene and walks away with it? And even if this unlikely event happene, how do the police immediately find him and retrieve the weapon?

By now this person should have been arrested, yet there's been no report of that.

And exactly how did police immediately know it was the weapon used by the suspect? Lab reports couldn't have come back that quickly.

This has all the signs of a Red Herring -- a fallacy used to divert attention from the original issue -- the suspect had no gun.

Without lab reports they don't know if it's the gun -- yet they're already saying it's the gun!

Well, that's a bending of truth right there, isn't it?

Meanwhile, they're packing on negative claims about the suspect none of which have yet been substantiated. Fortunately, none of this will wash in this day an age of forensics and aggressive personal injury lawyers. The truth will come out soon enough, albeit, not as quickly as we may like.

And the truth will be this: the gun has no link to the suspect an thus was a plant by police.

[MrEMT]

09:00 PM on 07/18/2011

"And the truth will be this: the gun has no link to the suspect an thus was a plant by police. "

Dude... this isn't an episode of CSI. We can wait for facts instead of trying to figure out what happens after the next commercial break.

[ElmCreekSmith]

10:21 PM on 07/18/2011

"Who picks up a gun at a crime scene and walks away with it?"

Criminals.

"And even if this unlikely event happene, how do the police immediatel­y find him and retrieve the weapon?"

Through the efforts of law-abiding citizens who aren't cowed by a "no snitch" mentality.

"Meanwhile, they're packing on negative claims about the suspect none of which have yet been substantia­ted."

It's pretty clear he was a convicted sex offender on parole since that is a matter of record. It is a fact that he was a "person of interest" in the shootings in Seattle where a 19 year old pregnant woman was shot in the head and died.

ECS

[OregonBond007]

05:42 PM on 07/18/2011

Glad to see that there are about 20 cops on scene, yet not one of them is trying to save the young mans life. You know, like CPR, calling an ambulance, or trying to stop the bleeding from the shooting. It is a civil right that seems to be thrown aside in the video.

[sadwitness]

06:45 PM on 07/18/2011

just an fyi, the reason the police were not immediately able to retrieve the weapon, is that they were attending to the victim.

[makestotalsense]

07:59 PM on 07/18/2011

So sad.

[tick-food]

08:54 AM on 07/19/2011

WRONG. Police protocol #1: secure the scene #2: render aid

[teaksmama]

06:59 PM on 07/18/2011

ah, he was already dead, unfortunately.