Editor’s Note: A Cruise vehicle that initially appeared to block access to the scene of the shooting was later determined by police to not be interfering with the emergency response and investigation.
Nine people were shot in San Francisco’s Mission District on Friday night and the victims—aged 19 to 35—are all expected to survive, according to the city’s police department.
Officers responded to 24th Street and Treat Avenue before 9:07 p.m., officials said. The people who were shot were primarily men between the ages of 22 and 29, although the victims included two men in their 30s and a 19-year-old woman. Police did not report the age and gender of one victim.
“At this time, the incident appears to be targeted and isolated,” police said in a tweet. “There is no known threat to the public at this time.”
SFPD Deputy Chief Raj Vaswani wrote that some of the injuries were considered life-threatening.
Dying Breed, a clothing store on the corner where the shooting happened, held a five-year anniversary block party on Friday night, according to posts on the store’s Instagram account. Employees at the store declined to comment when reached by phone.
In a small news conference at the scene Friday night, Officer Eve Laokwansathitaya confirmed the number of victims and said all were expected to survive. Police asked members of the public to avoid the area.
“I could see one victim,” said a witness who lives at the intersection and asked not to be named. “I heard the shooting loud and clear but didn’t visually witness it. The corner where I live is now yellow-taped, cops taking notes and looking for spent rounds, I think. [A victim] was being tended to by three people until emergency response came. It looked very serious.”
A Cruise self-driving car blocked emergency medical access to the scene, according to a witness who filmed the incident and posted footage to Twitter. In the video, a police officer could be seen and heard shouting at the robotaxi to move away as it was blocking emergency medical and fire access. The Cruise car was approximately one block away from the crime scene at the time the video was recorded.
“All of a sudden, there were cops, fire engines, and ambulances heading down Folsom toward 24th,” said Paul Valdez, who recorded the incident. “The Cruise car just stopped on Folsom. An officer got out of his car and started pounding on the window, yelling at the car to get off the street and get out of the way.”
“Our car initially stopped as it was approaching an active emergency scene, then proceeded to perform a U-turn and pull over,” A Cruise spokesperson wrote on Twitter. “Throughout this time, all vehicles, including emergency response vehicles, were able to proceed around our car.”
San Francisco transit chief Jeffrey Tumlin and other city officials have publically criticized self-driving cars as unsafe. The California Public Utilities Commission appears to be at the cusp of approving a near-unlimited deployment of Cruise and Waymo robotaxis in San Francisco as soon as this month.
Mayor London Breed tweeted about the shooting Saturday, noting that the incident was still under investigation while also thanking first responders and the staff at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital for making sure no lives were lost.
What we do know is our @SF_emergency 911 dispatchers, @SFPD, paramedics, and medical staff at @ZSFGCare all responded quickly to this shooting, and no lives were lost. Thank you to all our City workers who responded to this horrific event in the Mission.
— London Breed (@LondonBreed) June 10, 2023
Anyone with information regarding the shooting can contact San Francisco police at 415-575-4444 or text a Tip to TIP411.