We're learning more about the 24-year-old man who was shot and critically wounded in an altercation with San Francisco police on Saturday morning. And the SFPD continues to be cagey about the situation as the man remains in critical condition at Zuckerberg SF General Hospital.
Jamaica Hampton grew up with a homeless and drug-addicted mom, as he explains in a video created in October by CityTeam, a religion-based, residential addiction recovery program that Hampton was a part of. He describes "growing up in a drug house" and ending up in the foster care system by age 12.
He says he started drinking at the age of 21 and that he was still working through childhood traumas. "I was depressed, I tried to kill myself, and I ended up pushing everybody away,” he says in the video. “I ended up becoming homeless, not really knowing how to get out of the situation I was in."
48 Hills reports that Hampton is an "athlete and bodybuilder who recently completed a recovery program." The Examiner refers to him as "formerly homeless" while the Chronicle appears to suggest and 48 Hills confirms that he was homeless again at the time of the encounter with police on Saturday.
All we know is that at 8:34 a.m. on Saturday, police responded to the area of 23rd and Capp after a report of a hot prowl burglary. They spotted a suspect who matched a description given, possibly by victims of the burglary, and that was Hampton.
The SFPD says that Hampton assaulted one of the officers "with a weapon," though they have yet to confirm what that weapon was. Multiple sources and witnesses have told news outlets it was a glass bottle. Witnesses have told the Examiner that Hampton was then shot eight times, and struck by police three times. One officer was treated and released from the hospital Saturday for wounds sustained in the altercation.
Tana Hampton, Jamaica's mother, arrived from Sacramento to see her son but was not allowed to do so on Tuesday. She participated in a protest and press conference outside the SFPD's Mission Station Tuesday evening and told reporters she believes that "Something is very wrong." She added, per the Examiner, "All I know is they did my son wrong and they act like it’s not a crime — it’s a crime."
The SFPD is expected to hold a town hall on the shooting, which they typically do within 10 days. That has not yet been announced.
This is the first officer-involved shooting in San Francisco since June 2018, and Chief Bill Scott has made it a focus of his tenure to train officers in de-escalation techniques and avoiding the use of lethal force. Former SFPD Chief Greg Suhr was forced to resign in May 2016 following a string of fatal officer-involved shootings that caused a public outcry.
Previously: SF Police Shoot Homeless Man After Alleged Attack On Officer