Friday afternoon, the Haight-Ashbury erupted in gunfire when "multiple shots" were fired off Central Avenue, between Waller and Haight streets, leaving a Ritual Coffee Roasters location with a broken street-facing window and close by cars with bullet holes.
District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston earlier in the day had finished a walk-through of the neighborhood with "business owners, residents, and neighborhood leaders" to talk about ongoing public safety issues. Just a few hours later, gunshots were heard ringing in the Haight-Ashbury around 3:30 p.m., causing property damage and unnerving the surrounding community.
There was a shooting yesterday in the middle of the afternoon in the Haight. This is extremely unsettling and has rattled the entire community. 1/4
— Dean Preston (@DeanPreston) October 23, 2021
"There was a shooting yesterday in the middle of the afternoon in the Haight," the district supervisor wrote in a series of tweets Saturday morning. "This is extremely unsettling and has rattled the entire community."
An eyewitness account given to SFist states that an estimated ten nearby cars were damaged during the shooting — including a vehicle belonging to the owner of a neighborhood business — and the Ritual Coffee Roaster cafe at 1300 Haight Street sustained property damage. Pictures taken of the scene show a street-facing window cracked from a fired bullet; the shell was apparently later found by cafe employees, according to Twitter user @LgaFrancis; the window has since been boarded up.
As of this morning, there are no reported injuries, and no suspects have been identified or apprehended. We will provide additional updates as we learn more. We have also reached out to the owner of Ritual Coffee to offer assistance. 3/4
— Dean Preston (@DeanPreston) October 23, 2021
There have been no reported injuries from the shooting, and no suspects in relation to the crime have been identified or arrested.
"We will provide additional updates as we learn more," Preston continued on Twitter, before mentioning that his staff has also reached out to the owner of Ritual Coffee to offer help.
Friday's shooting comes after two unrelated violent attacks along Haight Street in September left a 19-year-old man permanently blind from gunfire and a 65-year-old man fatally stabbed.
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Photo: Courtesy of Twitter via @LgaFrancis