Parents and students found themselves in the middle of an active police scene Wednesday as officers searched for a suspect sought in a fatal stabbing near a Balboa Terrace elementary school.
San Francisco Police Department officers responded to a reported stabbing at 4:38 p.m. near the intersection of Junipero Serra Boulevard and Ocean Avenue, across the street from Commodore Sloat Elementary School.
The victim, identified as 35-year-old Robert Paul Byrd II, died from his injuries at a hospital, the San Francisco Chronicle reported (opens in new tab) Thursday, per authorities.
"The individual involved in the incident that occurred near our campus after school hours on Wednesday, Sept. 10, has been publicly identified," a message sent to parents by school staff said Thursday night. "We have confirmed that the individual was a parent in our school community, and we are deeply saddened to share that they have passed away."
Police launched a search for the perpetrator Wednesday, aided by a helicopter. Officers were seen walking around the Sloat campus and nearby neighborhoods. Police continued searching for a suspect Thursday.
‘How can they just lose the suspect like that?’
In a vacuum of official information from SFPD, parents in the Sloat community were frustrated that rumors were swirling on social media (opens in new tab). One of which said that the victim had perished, a detail later confirmed by the police department.
Many hoped aloud that the victim was not a Sloat parent, but school officials said the SFPD had instructed them to share no information on the subject.
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One mother told The Standard that her son and husband walked past the victim lying on the ground Wednesday, and her son, a kindergartener, later asked, “Is that daddy going to be OK?”
Many expressed frustration that a crime that occurred at a busy intersection during school pickup could spiral into a multi-day manhunt. How, they wondered, with so many video cameras outside the school and in the area, could the police lose the suspect?
A father who asked to remain anonymous told The Standard, “How can they just lose the suspect like that? And then tell us everything is safe? Why would we believe them?”
Parents outside Sloat who live in the neighborhood said police were going door to door Wednesday afternoon.
The event follows a reportedly unprovoked stabbing Monday in nearby West Portal, according to SFGate (opens in new tab). In that incident, a person was stabbed on Muni and, as of Wednesday, the perpetrator remained at large.
“My heart goes out to the victim and his family in this horrific incident,” interim Police Chief Paul Yep said about the latest stabbing. “We are devoting significant resources to this case, and our investigators are working tirelessly on this investigation. We will not rest until this suspect is in custody.”