EXCLUSIVE: Shots fired in daytime carjacking attempt at San Francisco shopping plaza

The news of the incident came as a shock to many who eat and shop at the popular, family-friendly shopping plaza.

Dion Lim Image
Saturday, October 8, 2022
EXCLUSIVE: Shots fired in carjacking attempt at SF shopping plaza
EXCLUSIVE: Shots fired in carjacking attempt at SF shopping plazaVideo shows the moments a gun is drawn and shots fired in an attempted carjacking at a shopping plaza in San Francisco's Anza Vista neighborhood.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Shocking video coming to light shows the moments a gun is drawn and shots fired in an attempted carjacking at a popular, family-friendly shopping plaza in San Francisco. Video of the incident shocked shoppers in the Anza Vista neighborhood where it happened.

"We always see children here, pets, it's family friendly. It's insane to see something like that!" Gasped a woman holding her puppy bulldog named Tank. She and her husband were on their way to a pet supply store in the shopping plaza.

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The shopping center along Geary Boulevard is home to a wide variety of stores, eateries, even a coronavirus vaccine clinic. Never, in a million years, did shoppers we spoke with Friday expect to see this.

"I just got my COVID booster, that's why I'm here," says one man with headphones on. He continued to say, after we showed him the video, how he was "certainly surprised to hear about it for the first time right now."

Video used in the police investigation shows two men approach a driver in a blue Honda sedan. One, armed with a gun, fires off a shot. San Francisco police confirmed the incident happened at around 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 30.

"It definitely looks like a safe area! There've been a few car break-ins but that's it," says one man, dressed in hospital scrubs from a nearby medical facility.

In a second video that we're only able to show a screenshot of, you hear the suspect fire multiple rounds at the Honda.

We noticed on the pavement, even a week later the locations where police marked the shell casings, were still drawn out in chalk. In total, we counted 10.

It was hard for some to wrap their heads around what happened here.

"It's just crazy it happened here where we have lunch at, and chill and eat. It's crazy." Said a man, also in hospital scrubs, holding a half-eaten burrito.

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Those we spoke with said they have no choice but to keep shopping here. They'll just be armed with a new sense of awareness.

"It looks so safe but it makes you think something could go wrong in the blink of an eye," says the woman with the bulldog. She's grateful her husband was accompanying her.

The victim in the Honda was able to escape. No arrests have been made and SFPD asks anyone with information to come forward by calling 415-575-444 or texting TIP411. All calls and texts will remain anonymous.

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