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San Francisco Police Shoot, Kill Man Suspected of Running Over Pedestrians Hours Earlier

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Bullet holes are seen in the window of a Dior store at Grant and Post streets in San Francisco on the morning of Dec. 20, 2024, hours after a deadly police shooting. (Katie DeBenedetti/KQED)

Updated 9:30 a.m. Friday

San Francisco police early Friday shot and killed a man who was suspected of driving his car into two pedestrians and a bicyclist on a sidewalk near Union Square hours earlier, authorities said.

The man was believed to be a security guard in front of the Dior store at Grant and Post streets, acting SFPD Chief David Lazar said at a news conference near the scene on Friday morning. At least 10 bullet holes pockmarked the store’s window.

Around 6:30 p.m. Thursday, police got reports of a driver speeding and driving recklessly on the sidewalk in the area of Kearny and Post streets, Lazar said. The driver, who appeared to be chasing a person on a bicycle, struck and injured an 18-year-old woman and a 17-year-old girl who were coming out of a Chipotle restaurant, Lazar said. The suspect continued to chase after the man riding an e-bike.

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After the driver hit the e-bike a block away, the bicyclist got up and ran away as the driver tried to put the bike in his vehicle, Lazar said. The driver took some of the bicyclist’s property and drove away, he said.

The woman and girl were taken to a hospital with minor injuries, Lazar said. Officers could not find the bicyclist, believed to be a Latino man in his 20s, but said they would like to speak with him about the incident, which is being considered an aggravated assault.

Using video footage and other evidence, police hours later believed they had identified the driver as a security guard posted in front of the Dior store, Lazar said.

About 1:30 a.m. Friday, police approached the suspect outside the store and shot him “after an attempt to take the suspect into custody was unsuccessful,” Lazar told reporters.

The details of the shooting “are still being figured out,” Lazar said. “We’re still looking at all the evidence. We don’t have all the specifics.”

Police said they are still determining what led up to the shooting and how many officers opened fire, but they said they found a gun at the scene.

“Upon my arrival this morning, there was a firearm on the ground at the scene that I believe belonged to the suspect,” Lazar said.

The man was taken to a hospital, where he was declared dead.

The shooting is now the subject of several investigations, and the Police Department will share more details at a town hall meeting within 10 days. There have been at least two other shootings by San Francisco police so far this year. Last year, there were five, and in 2022, there were four, according to SFPD data.

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