After Saturday’s news that a 51-year-old social worker had died from a violent stabbing attack by a patient at Zuckerberg SF General Hospital last week, the victim’s coworkers held a Sunday night vigil to sound the alarm about security at the hospital.
The story of a Thursday afternoon stabbing of a social worker at SF General Hospital took a much darker turn early Saturday night when we learned that the social worker died from his stabbing injuries. We now know the stabbing victim was 51-year-old hospital social worker Alberto Rangel, and the suspect in the stabbing, 34-year-old Wilfredo Tortolero Arriechi of San Francisco, has been taken into custody on murder and other charges.
KRON4 reports that at a Sunday night SF General vigil for the late Alberto Rangel, hospital staff sounded off about security concerns, and how the hospital was becoming a less safe place to work.
The community is mourning the loss of UCSF social worker Alberto Rangel, who tragically died on Saturday night after being stabbed multiple times with a 5-inch kitchen knife by a patient.
— ABC7 News (@abc7newsbayarea) December 8, 2025
A candlelight vigil was held to honor his life and grieve his passing. A collective… pic.twitter.com/S3u11MgRf2
"He changed people’s lives. There are people alive today because of him," coworker Maddy Auble said at the vigil, according to KTVU. "For him to lose his life at work, when he was there to provide services to patients, is not right."
Rangel is remembered by colleagues as an HIV care social worker who counseled patients with free therapy sessions and support groups in both English and Spanish, and as an artist and athlete with a quick wit. But the stabbing suspect Arriechi was known as a patient with a very troubling history of threats to SF General Hospital staff.
"The patient that took Alberto’s life was actually somebody he warned me about," Auble added in her vigil address. "We knew that he was aggressive."
We owe our colleague and friend more than grief. We owe them change, and will fight for it with everything we have. Please read our statement from UPTE President Dan Russell on the tragic passing of a UCSF social worker & UPTE-CWA 9119 member. #UCSF #SF #SocialWorker #WorkSafety pic.twitter.com/YEcyYPGMk8
— UPTE-CWA 9119 (@UPTECWA) December 7, 2025
And the hospital workers' unions are sounding off about what they say is a deteriorating level of safety at SF General. "Social workers have been raising the alarm about safety for years, to be met with radio silence," University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE) union chapter co-chair Chey Dean said at the vigil, per KTVU.
For their part, the SF Department of Public Health that runs the hospital has vowed a "top-to-bottom investigation" into security practices that may have helped lead to this tragedy. They promised to add more sheriff’s deputies and security at the hospital, and to install metal detectors. (The suspect Arriechi had allegedly brought a five-inch knife with him onto the campus, which police believe was used as the murder weapon.)
If you want to pay your respects to Alberto Rangel, KRON4 reports that there are vigils scheduled every night this week. So you can head to Zukcerberg SF General Hospital for that reason, though staffers themselves are worried about coming back and working there.
“A lot of us don’t want to come back,” Maddy Auble told KRON4. And that station adds, “Some people are saying they are not even sure they want to go to work after this.”
Related: Social Worker Dies From Injuries Following Stabbing at SF General Hospital, Suspect Arrested [SFist]
Image: Nato Green via Facebook
