WOMAN SUFFERS LIFE-THREATENING INJURIES IN VISITACION VALLEY SHOOTING

A 41-year-old woman was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries Thursday after she was shot while inside an SUV in San Francisco’s Visitacion Valley neighborhood.
The shooting occurred at around 7 p.m. near the corner of Goettingen Street and Harkness Avenue, according to police.
Witnesses told police that people inside two different cars, described as a silver SUV and a black four-door sedan, were shooting at each
other.
A woman inside the SUV suffered a gunshot wound to her upper body. Following the shooting, the SUV driver took the woman to the hospital
emergency room, police said. The sedan allegedly had two male suspects inside, with one suspect being described as a 21-year-old man, according to police.
No arrests have been made as of this morning.

19-YEAR-OLD MAN STABBED WHILE ATTEMPTING TO STOP BURRITO THIEF

A 19-year-old man suffered a small stab wound early this morning when he tried to stop a man who allegedly walked into a San Francisco Mexican restaurant, ordered a burrito and then left without paying for it.
Around 12:30 a.m., the suspect entered the restaurant, located in the 2200 block of Mission Street, and ordered a burrito, according to police.
After receiving his food, the suspect left without paying. Another man then chased after the suspect, police said.
The suspect brandished a knife at the victim and allegedly slashed him in the chest, according to police.
The suspect again fled, heading west on 19th street, police said. The victim was taken to a hospital with injuries not considered life-threatening.
A description of the burrito thief was unavailable and no arrest has been made as of this morning.

OFFICERS TO RECEIVE HARASSMENT TRAINING IN WAKE OF RACIST TEXT MESSAGES

All members of the San Francisco Police Department will participate in training to prevent harassment and discrimination in the workplace after racist and derogatory text messages discovered during an investigation into sexual assault allegations by an officer were recently made public, police Chief Greg Suhr said today.
Suhr made the announcement during a news conference addressing the second round of racist and derogatory text messages within the Police Department revealed since last year. He was joined by members of the San Francisco Police Commission and members of the San Francisco National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
“These despicable text messages make clear that these former officers were not fit to serve our city and would not have met the current standards for hiring to have even become police officers in the first place,” Suhr said.
The messages were discovered by police investigators sometime in the Fall of 2015, during an investigation into rape allegations made in
August against former Officer Jason Lai.
The text messages, which included disparaging comments against black, Latino, Asian, Muslim, gay and transgender people, were allegedly
exchanged between Lai, former Lt. Curtis Liu and two other former officers whose identities have not been revealed.
The messages, however, were not made public until recently, because the investigation into the rape allegations was ongoing, Suhr said.
“These ugly, bigoted text and images are difficult to look at,” Suhr said. “We are committed to cutting out this cancer of intolerance.”
In addition to the two-hour harassment and discrimination in the workplace training that all members of the Police Department will receive by the end of May, Suhr also outlined further reforms that are to take place within the department.
Some of those ongoing measures include changing bi-annual firearms qualifications for all sworn officers from two-hour range and firearm
qualifications to eight-hour classroom training sessions that include de-escalation and crisis intervention team principles, as well as equipping
all patrol officers with body worn cameras by the end of 2016.
Additionally, the department would continue to expand recruitment campaigns designed to encourage people of color to apply for jobs with the
Police Department.
On Wednesday, the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office filed charges against Liu in connection with the sexual assault allegations against
Lai, charging Lui with one felony count of making a false statement in a police report, and two misdemeanor counts of delaying or obstructing a peace
officer.
Last month, investigators with the District Attorney’s Office found there was insufficient evidence to charge Lai with sexual assault, and
instead charged him with two misdemeanor counts of unlawful possession of local criminal offender history information and four misdemeanor counts of
misuse of confidential Department of Motor Vehicles information. The information leading to those charges was uncovered during the rape investigation.
President of the San Francisco Police Officers’ Association, Martin Halloran, gave a stern warning today to members of the Police Department.
“Bigotry like this needs to be stamped out,” Halloran said in a statement. “Our union prides itself in treating everyone with equal respect,
regardless of race, sexual orientation, gender, or religion. If any officer does not meet our high standards, they should resign now.”
On Tuesday, Public Defender Jeff Adachi, who released the text of many of Lai’s messages this week, said the revelation had led his office to
review 207 cases connected with the four officers for signs of possible bias.
This is the second time since last year that the department has faced a scandal because of text messages uncovered during a criminal investigation of an officer.
A previous set of racist text messages exchanged among a group of officers in 2011 and 2012 were uncovered during a federal investigation into
allegations of theft against one officer and were made public in March 2015.
In that case, Suhr ultimately moved to fire seven officers in connection with those messages, however the terminations were overturned in
December after a judge found the department had waited too long to act.
When asked today about recent a hunger strike taking place outside of the Mission District police station since last week, in which activists
are demanding for Suhr’s resignation along with Mayor Ed Lee’s, Suhr said he had no intention of resigning and instead vowed to see that reforms within
the Police Department would be implemented.

POLICE INVESTIGATING EARLY MORNING ARMED ROBBERY AT COW HOLLOW HOTEL

A hotel in San Francisco’s Cow Hollow neighborhood was robbed at gunpoint early this morning, according to police.
Around 3 a.m., police responded to a report of an armed robbery at a hotel in the 1500 block of Union Street, according to police.
A hotel employee was working the front desk when he heard what sounded like a crash. When the male employee looked up, he saw a suspect
pointing a handgun at him and demanding money, police said.
The victim handed the suspect an undisclosed amount of money from the hotel’s cash register. The suspect then fled on foot.
The employee told police he then heard a car leave from the front of the hotel, but was too scared to see if it was the suspect’s vehicle,
according to police. A description of the suspect was unavailable.

(News by Bay City News)