A bizarre and scary situation erupted in the heart of the Mission District Friday afternoon after a possibly mentally unstable woman allegedly pulled a gun on an exterminator, and the SFPD declared a shelter-in-place emergency for Valencia Street between 15th and 18th Streets. In total, the standoff lasted about seven hours and put a damper on what would otherwise have been a busy evening in the Mission.
As ABC 7 reports, the situation began with a call to police at 1:55 p.m. after a pest-control worker knocked on the door of the woman's apartment in the Crown Hotel on the 500 block of Valencia.
The worker said the woman pulled a gun on him when she opened the door, and when police arrived, they found the woman barricaded in her apartment. according to NBC Bay Area.
Rumors went out on Twitter that there was an "active shooter" in the neighborhood, however no shots were ever fired.
To end the standoff at around 9 p.m., the woman apparently "stepped into the hallway" of the building, and surrendered. She was taken to a hospital for evaluation.
#SF RESIDENTS: Please stay clear of 17th & Valencia. There is an armed suspect there. My brother is nearby & has been asked to take cover. pic.twitter.com/3eEjcLFsAX
— Sumaya Kazi (@sumaya) March 10, 2017
Cops told us we were "in line of fire" of SF #Valencia lockdown then had us run into street by ourselves pic.twitter.com/eKEuUTvNPv
— Rebecca Pierce (@aptly_engineerd) March 10, 2017
Mission Local spoke to one of the other residents at the SRO where the incident took place, who explained that the situation there is often "stressful" with multiple residents suffering from mental illness. “I hope that nobody hurts her,” Joanne Brewster said to Mission Local. She described the woman as "quiet," and a veteran, and added, “I had a funny feeling sooner or later something is going to happen."
