On Wednesday night, Police Chief Greg Suhr headed back to his old neighborhood to discuss Saturday's justifiable shooting death of 19-year-old parolee Kenneth Harding. Instead of answering questions, Suhr received a chilly reception and was eventually booed off stage. The Chronicle reports:
More than 300 people packed into the Bayview Opera House to weigh in on the shooting Saturday, when Kenneth Wade Harding, a 19-year-old Washington state parolee, was shot and killed after he allegedly fired at two officers. But Wednesday, people in the opera house booed Suhr and repeatedly interrupted his address. Things didn't improve when the chief gave up and opened up the floor to questions: Those trying to question the officials could barely be heard above the crowd's cries of outrage.
On Tuesday, Suhr unveiled information that says "they found gunshot residue on Harding's right hand," which makes it clear that he fired at police first before being riddled with bullets.
Others, however, don't believe Harding shot first or at all. The SF Bay Guardian published a piece saying the parolee was "killed for riding while poor."
After Wednesday night's dismal community meeting, Surh went on to tell reporters: "Everybody is upset. Everybody wants to vent...They want to see me and have a conversation in their community. Here I am. I love this community, and I'm telling you right now, there are some hurting people in there, and they needed to hear us say, 'Here we are.'"
"They shouted me down - that just means I've got to come back again," he went on to add.
If you recall, Harding recently served a stint in the clink for "prostituting a 14-year-old girl in Seattle" and was "a person of interest in a shooting last week" that resulted in the death of 19-year-old Tanaya Gilbert.
A misguided protest erupted in the Dolores Park on Tuesday, featuring a bevy of allegedly angry ilk furious over the SPPD-related shooting death. Many wondered why the banal protest was held in the infamously hipster-laced Mission district and not the infamously crime-ridden Bayview neighborhood. The protest resulted in around 35 arrests and the unfortunate beating of a Muni Clipper card dispenser.
Update: SFPD now claim that Harding died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound.