The San Francisco Police Department will be holding a press conference/community meeting this afternoon to "provide an update" on Wednesday's fatal police shooting at St. Luke's Hospital, even as additional details — and video — of the dead man continue to surface.
As you know, three SFPD officers shot and killed 25-year-old Javier Lopez Garcia as he fired shots from the top of a construction elevator at the hospital.
Police later learned that Garcia had allegedly robbed a Big 5 Sporting Goods Store at 855 El Camino Real in San Bruno about half an hour before the fatal confrontation.
Thursday afternoon, San Bruno Police released video of the robbery, which you can see starting at 3:44 in the KRON4 report here:
KRON4 reports that at 3:51 p.m. Wednesday, Garcia brought a Big 5 ad circular into the store and inquired after a 12-gauge tactical pump shotgun, after which he pulled a handgun and demanded that the store manager give him the weapon.
“At that point, he removes the handgun from his pocket, points it at the clerk and says, ‘hey, I don’t want any money. I just want the shotgun. You try to stop me, I will shoot you. I’m not afraid to get shot myself, I’m suicidal,'” San Bruno Police Lt. Tim Mahon told CBS5.
“He (the clerk) was kind of talking with him and was trying to look at the gun to make sure it was real," Mahon said. "That it wasn’t a fake gun because he didn’t want to give a real gun to someone who’s got a fake gun. But he realized, you know, ‘this looks real to me. He’s serious. He’s not going to mess around.'"
The Chron reports that Garcia also made suicidal remarks during his confrontation with SFPD, saying “I’m ready to die. Today will be the day I die,” before he was shot.
Mystery still surrounds why the San Jose man (though SF's Medical Examiner initially said that Garcia lived in SF, they corrected themselves on Thursday afternoon) chose St. Luke's as the scene of his demise. "That's the big question right now. We did talk to family, they don't know if he was seeking an employment opportunity and was unhappy," SFPD Chief Greg Suhr told ABC 7.
"We have no idea why he did what he did," Suhr said said to the Merc. "It's very fortunate that no one (else) was injured or killed."
Wednesday's incident was not Garcia's first confrontation with the law, the Chron reports, saying that he has a criminal record "dating back to when he was at least 18 years old."
According to court records, in 2008 he was convicted in a San Jose carjacking in which the driver was beaten, and was sentenced to nine months in county jail and three years probation.
While on probation, Garcia "was convicted of possession of a concealed dirk or dagger," for which he received six more months of county jail.
While in jail, he wrote a letter to a Santa Clara County judge saying "I have been in custody almost four months. I am realizing I do not want to spend my life in jail... When I was out of custody what I did was work and love my family," the Chron reports.
“My dream is to one day get married, have kids, have a career, own a home and stay out of trouble... I know in the past I have made mistakes that I am sorry for and deeply regret.”
Members of the public who want to learn more about the incident are invited to SFPD's town hall on the topic today at 4 p.m., in the Griffin Room of the St. Luke's Hospital (3555 Cesar Chavez Street). Visitors are asked to enter through the Hospital’s main entrance and hospital staff will direct them to the meeting room.
Previously: SFPD Shoot, Kill Gunman At St. Luke's Hospital Construction Site
Man Shot By Police At SF Hospital IDed, Was Suspect In San Bruno Gun Theft