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SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — Luis Gongora, a 45-year-old resident of San Francisco, has been identified as the man who was shot and killed by San Francisco police on Thursday.
More than ten people who witnessed the shooting have given statements to police, with at least one witness saying that the knife was allegedly on the ground at the time of the shooting, according to Commander
Greg McEachern.
The investigation is ongoing and some of the witnesses will be re-interviewed. Additionally, the officers involved in the shooting were being interviewed Friday and their names will be released within 10 days, McEachern said.
“We’re still in the beginning stages of the interviews,” McEachern said. “We are still looking for additional witnesses and video.”
Gongora was fatally shot on Shotwell Street between 18th and 19th Streets around 10 a.m.
The homeless Latino man was shot multiple times as he allegedly charged at officers with a 13-inch kitchen knife.
A homeless outreach team initially reported someone with a large kitchen knife was on Shotwell Street. Officers responded and tried to subdue the man by shooting less-lethal beanbag rounds at him, police officials said.
However, the suspect got up and charged at the officers, who fired at least seven shots at him, police said. The man was taken to San Francisco General Hospital and went into surgery in “very critical” condition, but hospital officials said he has since died.
An officer said that the man was homeless and had been staying in a nearby alley for a couple of months.
The department is in the midst of revising its use of force policies following the controversy over the police shooting of Mario Woods in the Bayview District in December. The revisions include policy changes emphasizing conflict de-escalation and the use of non-lethal force.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is conducting the autopsy examination to document the cause of death.
Some witnesses in the area said the man was confused and didn’t speak English and disputed the account by police.
When asked whether Gongora may have not understood the officers’ commands because he didn’t speak English, McEachern said he couldn’t confirm whether Gongora spoke English but that one witness said he did.
“One witness said that he speaks Spanish but that he had conversed with him in English.”
Questions have been raised about the police account by witnesses who told reporters that Gongora was not holding a knife at the time of the shooting, but instead had the knife strapped to his hip.
“These are the statements that we are providing today for some clarity on information that has been put out in the media in the last day,” according to McEachern.
Supervisor David Campos has issued the following statement on his Facebook page:
Yet another tragic death in San Francisco. As witnesses, the police department, the Homeless Outreach Team and homeless people in the area come forward with more information, I am focused on making sure we gather the facts, answer outstanding questions and address all contradictions. I will call for a thorough and independent investigation of this matter. And — if it becomes clear that we can’t get such an investigation — we need to reform the system.
Bay City News contributed to this report