SFPD shoot, kill man carrying gun while investigating armed robbery near Tenderloin

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- We are learning more details about the encounter where San Francisco police officers shot and killed a man late Sunday night.

ABC7 News reporter Luz Pena went to the area to speak to a witness who saw the man on the ground as police surrounded him.

"I heard from the distance cops shouting 'Put your hands up. Spread eagle.' He was kind of groggy at that point already. He was putting his hands out but not doing exactly what they were saying," said Drew Youngwerth.

Youngwerth lives in the area and said he heard multiple gunshots coming from the Willow Street alley seconds before police surrounded the man.

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"I heard probably five or six gunshots and then looked out the window," said Youngwerth. "He just kind of stayed there and eventually like a swarm of police just ran over and kind of tackled him and I think they took a gun from him, or he was armed or something like that."

In a video obtained by ABC7 News, the man can be seen on a stretcher. According to SFPD, he later died in the hospital. So, what led to this?

In video obtained by our media partner the San Francisco Standard, police can be heard yelling "stop" before shooting a man as he ran away from police toward Van Ness.

In a statement, the police department said officers were investigating an armed robbery that occurred on McAllister Street before the shooting.

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The San Francisco Police Officers Association claims their review of the video shows the suspect fired at officers first, before officers returned fire.

Youngwerth confirmed seeing a firearm left behind. This latest incident adds to a number of complaints from residents and merchants who say illicit activity on Willow Street is getting worse.

"Willow between Van Ness and Larkin is probably the most drug-infested two blocks of San Francisco during the day-long term," said Randy Shaw, executive director of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic

Shaw said this area has also become a magnet for crime. Last month, during a police operation SFPD arrested 43 people with outstanding arrest warrants.

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"All these fugitives who committed crimes nowhere near the Tenderloin, but they come, and they think they can be safe in the Tenderloin - that send a message about how the city is treating the neighborhood," said Shaw.

Rene Colorado, executive director of the Tenderloin Merchants Association, said the city has been investing in cleaning up the area, but he says merchants want the city to do more.

"The city has been deploying resources and cleaning operation in the alley basically nonstop. So, we are grateful for that, but the fact of the matter is that Willow is still not in a good place," said Colorado.

The San Francisco Police confirmed the officer involved shooting is being investigated by the District Attorney's office.

Police said the officer-involved shooting is being investigated by the District Attorney's Office, the Chief Medical Examiner's Office, the San Francisco Police Department's Internal Affairs and Investigative Services divisions, and the Department of Police Accountability.