The entrance road to the Twin Peaks vista point could be getting a new surveillance camera and a license-plate reader, after a 19-year-old was fatally shot there last weekend.
Following Saturday's fatal shooting on Twin Peaks, Mayor London Breed was on ABC 7 to talk about it, and to address the longstanding crime issues in the area.
"Twin Peaks has been a bit of a hot spot for some time now," Breed said. "Car breaks-ins and other violence incidents have taken place, but it's the most beautiful, iconic destination in San Francisco and so we have to look at some solutions."
As SFist noted earlier, Twin Peaks was last the scene of a fatal shooting in 2017, but petty crime, car break-ins, and armed robberies have been common there for years. And a police chase of a suspected stolen vehicle up Crestline Drive on Twin Peaks ended with the car going off a cliff in December, landing on top of a parked car on a street below.
Breed is now suggesting that a license-plate reader and a new camera installed on the entrance road on Portola Drive could help in both deterring and solving crimes in the area. And as the Chronicle reports, the SFMTA is planning to install an electronic gate at the south end of Twin Peaks Boulevard as well.
The modernizing of the entrance and exit gates is expected to happen by spring.
"These gates will serve as both an investigative tool when a crime occurs, and a deterrent to prevent those from committing crimes," says the mayor's spokesperson Jeff Cretan in a statement to the Chronicle.
Last week's shooting did not appear to be random, and police believe it was a targeted, gang-style hit.
"The victim was in a vehicle when the suspect pulled alongside the victim. The victim exited his vehicle and walked over towards the suspect at which time he was shot once in the upper body," said SFPD Chief Bill Scott, speaking to ABC 7.
While police have not said whether the shooting was captured on a surveillance camera, Scott's detailed description suggests that it was.
The victim has now been identified as 19-year-old Edin Figueroa Acosta of San Mateo County, the Chronicle reports.
The mayor and police held a "general question-and-answer" session with Twin Peaks neighbors on Monday, but the focus was largely on public safety following the shooting and years of other types of crime.
Residents in the area say they are frustrated with how rampant petty crime has been. One nearby resident, Dave Yonemoto, tells ABC 7, "I still think it's the people that come from the outside. They feel there's no security, there's no cops. You know they break into cars, they steal catalytic converters."
"It's been more and more brazen in recent times, where people are getting held up at gunpoint," says resident Eric Farb, speaking to ABC 7. "And so it's getting weird. It's getting really weird."
Previously: There Was a Homicide on Twin Peaks Saturday Night
Photo: Jan Senderak