BART officials held another news conference today but released few new details about the confrontation at San Francisco’s Civic Center station on Sunday in which BART police shot and killed a knife-wielding man.
BART Deputy Police Chief Daniel Hartwig told reporters at a morning briefing at the transit agency’s Oakland headquarters that investigators hope to learn the man’s identity later today.
He is believed to Caucasian and between the ages of 30 and 50, Hartwig said.
The shooting happened during a confrontation on the platform of the Civic Center station at about 9:45 p.m. Sunday.
Hartwig said today that police do not yet know how many shots were fired, but that three bullet casings were recovered on the platform.
BART had received reports around 9:30 p.m. of a white man wearing a tie-dye shirt and green military fatigue pants who was carrying an open container of alcohol–which is illegal in a BART station. A call a few minutes later into BART dispatch said the man was drunk and “wobbly on the platform.”
Hartwig said the two officers arrived at the Civic Center station on an East Bay-bound train at 9:45 p.m. and confronted the man, who they say was aggressive and combative and didn’t comply with orders.
He was armed with a knife and a broken alcohol bottle he was wielding as a weapon, BART officials said. A minute after the confrontation began, the man was shot.
One of the officers suffered minor cuts in the confrontation, Hartwig said.
Medical personnel performed CPR on the man, who was shot in his front torso area. He was transported to San Francisco General Hospital where he was pronounced dead around 10:45 p.m.
The two officers have been placed on administrative leave. One of the officers involved in the shooting has been on the BART police force for six years, and the other for 18 months.
One of the officers was carrying a Taser at the time of the confrontation but did not use it, BART officials said.
Hartwig said BART has finished training all of its officers to use Tasers, and that all officers will be required to carry them starting Monday.
BART officers and San Francisco police are working on a joint investigation, which includes reviewing a surveillance recording that captured part of the confrontation.
BART officials will be releasing information on behalf of SFPD, he added.
Hartwig said he encourages witnesses to contact BART Criminal Investigations Division at (510) 464-7040. People with information can also contact San Francisco police at (415) 575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411 to remain anonymous.
Jeff Shuttleworth, Bay City News
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