The tone was somber at the town hall meeting held yesterday to discuss the shooting death of 27-year-old Herbet Benitez by police officers at 8th and Market Street this past Thursday. With members of the community, friends of the deceased, and reporters gathered in attendance at the Bill Graham Civic Center Auditorium to listen and ask questions of Chief of Police Greg Suhr, a more complete picture of the events that led to Benitez's death began to emerge.

According to the Chronicle, the Chief of Police explained how quickly things escalated after a construction worker flagged down a passing police car to report a man throwing glass bottles in the street.

One of the sergeants, a 29-year veteran of the department, was first to make contact with Benitez, according to Suhr. He said Benitez reacted in a hostile manner, telling the sergeant “don’t talk to me, people are watching me, don’t f— touch me.”

The sergeant tried to create distance between himself and Benitez, as is department policy when an individual confronted by police poses only a risk to him or herself, according to Suhr.

But Benitez closed that distance, grabbed the sergeant by his vest, slammed him on the curb and got on top of him, Suhr said.

It was at this point that Benitez somehow managed to get a hold of the officer's gun. Again, from the Chronicle:

“With the sergeant looking down the barrel of his own gun, he yelled to his partner, ‘He’s got my gun, shoot him,’” Suhr said. “The sergeant (on top) let go of Mr. Benitez and drew and discharged his department-issued handgun.”

At present the Police Chief's version of events is not in dispute, with eye-witness statements corroborating that Benitez did indeed grab the gun of the pinned officer.

While restrained in tone, the community members in attendance were not without questions. According to Hoodline, at least one audience member wondered why Benitez was so easily able to get the officer's pistol.

[One] resident asked Suhr to explain how someone could remove a gun from an officer's holster. Suhr said it is difficult to remove a gun from the type of safety holster the officer was wearing and he did not want to provide instructions on how to do so, "but it did happen this time."

As reported by ABC 7, a friend of Benitez spoke up at the meeting, expressing her disbelief that he would ever attack a police officer.

"The Herbert that you're describing is not the Herbert I knew when I would see him Tuesday nights in bible study and when we got this news, I'm telling you we are just speechless right now."

As noted by The Examiner, others in attendance spoke of how this incident plays into the larger fear that Latino community has of police, and their perceived shoot-first approach.

Fredy Bolvito, a Tenderloin resident who works in the same neighborhood, said the Latino community in The City is in danger. Benitez was Hispanic, police said.

“When I have an incident I don’t call the police because I’m afraid I’m going to be shot because of my language barrier,” Bolvito said. “It could be my brother, it could be my sister, it can be my mom and dad.”

In the end, everyone just seemed to wish things could have gone down a different way.

“These meetings are all sad to have,” Suhr told a reporter from the Chronicle after the meeting. “I know a mom lost a son, and our hearts go out to them. It’s important to have the conversation so people know why we did what we did when we did it.”

Previously: Police: Struggle Over Gun Preceded Thursday's Fatal SFPD Shooting