Officers from the San Francisco Police Department shot and killed a man they say was an armed carjacking suspect this morning, after a dramatic pursuit and rollover crash in the Financial District.
According to SFPD Chief Greg Suhr, speaking to press near the scene at California and Battery Streets, the suspect had carjacked a white, 2003 Cadillac Escalade in Richmond at about 4:56 a.m. Thursday morning.
Richmond Police Department Watch Commander Lt. Walle tells CBS5 that Richmond Police pursued the driver, described only as a "Hispanic male," all the way to San Rafael. At that point, CHP took over the chase, following the driver as he crossed the Golden Gate Bridge into SF at about 5:30 this morning.
The Chron reports that the driver then sped through the Marina, running numerous red lights as he headed east on Lombard Street, then south on Van Ness, then east again on Bush Street.
By that point, SFPD had taken up the chase, but lost sight of the Escalade, which had crashed and rolled onto its side at California and Battery, Suhr says.
Suhr tells the Chron that “When Good Samaritans in the neighborhood went to the aid of the suspect," who appeared to be trapped in the overturned Escalade, "he fired upon the Good Samaritans."
Suhr says that less-than-lethal weapons were then called for “to try to resolve this thing peacefully." According to Lisa Garcia, a witness who spoke with CBS5 (you can see her full account in the video below), police were in a stand-off with the driver for "about five minutes."
At around 6 a.m., officers shot the man when he tried to get out of the Escalade and, Suhr says, pointed his gun at the officers.
Several officers then fired at the man, who died at the scene.
According to Garcia, a child was also in the Escalade.
"There was a kid in there" she says, "and we asked the cops is the kid OK, and he said yes, the child is OK."
Garcia did not know the kid's age, and SFPD had not responded to SFist's questions regarding the presence of a child during the incident at publication time.
According to the Chron, a bystander also suffered minor injuries to the chest, a result of "bullet fragments or debris."
As of 8:45 this morning, the intersection was still closed, and SFPD officers say that people who work at some of the buildings in the area might not be allowed into the building until after the investigation wraps. As of 9:25 a.m., SFPD spokesperson Officer Albie Esparza says that "California St from Front to Sansome and Battery from Pine to Sacramento is expected to be shut down for the remainder of the morning. Muni has been rerouted."