SFPD Chief Bill Scott on Wednesday announced that two shootings in recent weeks — one in the Bayview on April 28 and one in Ingleside on May 12 — may be connected and both appear to be gang-related. They seem to be part of an ongoing rise in gang tensions in and around the Bayview, which has included other shootings as well.
Investigators say that a shooting in which over 100 rounds were fired at the Alice Griffith projects in the Bayview on the night of April 28 was the work of a known gang in San Francisco, though the department continues to seek individual suspects. As the Examiner reports, during a Police Commission hearing this week, Scott explained that the April shooting — in which no one was injured but some vehicles were hit — was likely linked to the second shooting two weeks later in which around 50 rounds were fired and an innocent bystander was injured.
“It’s a significant concern for us to have that many rounds fired in any location," Scott said.
The May 12 shooting occurred along Ocean Avenue in Ingleside, and a 50-year-old man walking near Ocean Avenue and Jules Street was struck by a bullet that came from a vehicle.
Scott was asked about the May 1 shooting on 14th Street in the Mission in which a 22-year-old innocent bystander — and Twitter employee — was fatally wounded, but he did not indicate that this shooting was connected to the others.
He did refer to a "series" of connected shootings, of which the above-mentioned pair were just a part. And SF Supervisor Shamann Walton posted a press release on Facebook on April 30 saying, "Within the past week, shootings have occurred at Alice Griffth Apartments, Sunnydale Developments, a shooting occurred near Oakdale and Third streets, and a shooting near Hawes and Gilman streets."
A shooting that occurred on the freeway near the western end of the Bay Bridge on the night of April 28 — the same night as the barrage of gun-fire in the Bayview — was said to be gang-related as well. That shooting left one person dead.
"We will not tolerate this violence in our community and all of our community partners have to step up to keep community safe,” wrote SF Supervisor Shamman Walton in a Facebook post after he heard the "80-100+ rounds" fired on April 28. “We need to increase our mediation efforts and we need to get these guns off of our streets!”
Photo via SFGov