Neighbors shocked after 1 killed in officer-involved shooting in South San Francisco
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Residents in a South San Francisco neighborhood woke up to gunshots, a heavy police presence and a man dead in the street. Neighbors are left to wonder why the man was armed with a shotgun.
As police gathered evidence this morning on Cork Place in South San Francisco one resident on the street said she couldn't imagine having a man standing in front of her home holding a shotgun.
"That's scary that's really scary," she said.
But that is exactly what police say happened. They got the call just before midnight about a disturbance involving an armed man. When they arrived- they say he was standing in the middle of the street.
"The officers gave multiple commands to disarm himself with that shotgun," South San Francisco Police Sergeant Ken Chetcuti said.
A man living across the street heard what happened next. "Heard a dog was barking, I looked outside saw the lights were flashing, heard a few more likely gunshots. And then there were red lights and everything so I couldn't see much more," neighbor Bill Stridbeck said.
He described hearing several gunshots, but police have not said how many officers fired their guns or whether the man shot at officers.
"He opened up his trunk, he pulled out this big rifle, then he ran back on Cork and that's when the gunshots start shooting." Stella Stridbeck said.
"He failed to comply with the officer's commands and which time gunfire erupted and fatally wounding the person that was armed," Stridbeck said.
"You could see the man's face, his head, there's a lot of blood. I saw this man's head, like his neck, blown off," neighbor Karen Fonthal said. She shot cell phone video of the aftermath, and says she recognized the man as her neighbor. A man she and many other people in the area say was quiet and stuck to himself.
Kathy Toy is grateful she was asleep and missed it. "I grew up here it's really shocking."
A joint investigation is being conducted by the South San Francisco Police Department and the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office.
Anyone with information related to this incident is urged to call the South San Francisco Police Department at 650-877-8900 or the anonymous TIP line at 650-952-2244.
