A man fatally shot by police after shooting at officers in San Francisco’s Lower Nob Hill neighborhood last Wednesday had two prior strikes against him and a warrant out for his arrest, police Chief Greg Suhr said today.
Steven Young, 33, was shot in a confrontation with police near Larkin and Fern streets that stemmed from a traffic stop nearby, Suhr said at a community meeting held this afternoon to discuss the shooting.
Young, a San Carlos resident, had prior convictions for burglary and narcotics-related offenses, was on active parole and had an $80,000 warrant out for his arrest in San Mateo County, police said.
“It was his parents’ belief that he would not be taken alive,” Suhr said.
When officers in a marked patrol car pulled over Young’s vehicle at about 1:25 p.m. Wednesday, he got out of the car and fled, then fired six shots at the officers who were pursuing him on foot, according to Suhr.
No officers were hit, but one of the officers returned fire, striking Young once in the head, Suhr said.
He was taken to San Francisco General Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries a day later.
“It’s never something we’d like to have when someone loses their life, but these officers did a great job and put their lives in harm’s way,” Suhr said.
While the officers were chasing Young, a female passenger in the car who was an acquaintance of his got into the driver’s seat and drove away. Investigators have since located and interviewed her and retrieved the car, and she is not considered a person of interest in the case, Suhr said.
The Police Department holds community meetings following officer-involved shootings, a policy Police Commission President Thomas Mazzucco said is important to prevent “misconceptions or stories that circulate through the neighborhood.”
Today’s meeting was sparsely attended and wrapped up in less than 15 minutes with only one question from a member of the public.
Dan McMenamin, Bay City News
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