Nearly a month after a confrontation with SFPD led to the Bayview shooting death of a 19-year-old man, officials have finally released the names of the officers involved in the incident.
On July 16, 19-year-old Seattle resident Kenneth Harding was shot and killed while running from authorities after they tried to detain him for fare evasion at the Muni stop on Third and Palou.
While running, Harding turned to his left and allegedly fired shots at the officers, who then fired back. It is believed that during the gunfight, Harding stumbled and accidentally shot himself in the head.
Though the case is still under investigation, it has spawned public outrage and protests, some of which have also led to arrests. Harding was recently paroled for “attempting to promote prostitution” with a 14-year-old and was a suspect in the fatal Seattle shooting of a 19-year-old woman that occurred July 13.
As the Chron reports, officers Matthew Lopez and Richard Hastings were those on the scene.
Their names were released after a Sunshine Ordiance request filed by the ACLU, KALW reports, and were finally made public because “the investigation is near completion,” a police spokesperson told CBS5.
In a letter to the ACLU, SFPD commander Lyn Tomioka says that both officers discharged their firearms during the confrontation with Harding.
“They’re both good officers,” Lt. Julian Hill of the Bayview station, told the Bay Citizen.
“I have faith that they acted the right way and they had to make a decision and they acted on their training and experience.”
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