Previously: SFPD Seeks Another Suspect In Suede Shooting, Club That Hosted Fatal Weekend Shooting Temporarily Closing, Photo Gallery: One Dead, Four Injured In Shooting Outside Wharf-Area Bar
San Francisco prosecutors today charged a 20-year-old (Police and prosecutors now confirm the shooting suspect is 20 years old, not 19.) Richmond man with murder for the fatal shooting of another man outside a nightclub near Fisherman’s Wharf early Sunday.
The shooting occurred at about 1:40 a.m. outside the Suede nightclub at 383 Bay St.
Lawon Marshawn Hall, 19, of Richmond, was hit and fatally wounded. Three other male victims were shot and hospitalized but are expected to survive, police said.
The suspect, 19-year-old Keandre Davis, of Richmond, was shot nearby by a patrol special police officer, police said. He suffered gunshot wounds to both legs and was hospitalized. Police are still searching for a second suspect.
Prosecutors today charged Davis with one count of murder, one count of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and one count of negligent discharge of a firearm, district attorney’s office spokesman Brian Buckelew said.
Davis is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges in San Francisco Superior Court Wednesday morning.
According to police, a crowd had gathered outside the club early that morning and Davis and a second male suspect allegedly began shooting at several people who had just left.
The patrol special officer confronted both shooting suspects, police said.
“When he ordered them to drop their weapons, they refused,” police spokeswoman Lt. Lyn Tomioka said. The officer then engaged both men with gunfire, she said.
A statement issued Monday night by the Association of Patrol Special Police Officers identified the officer as Robert Burns. The statement said Burns had been contracted by Suede and on duty outside the nightclub that night, and returned fire when “the suspect continued to threaten to fire or fired his gun.”
“Initial evidence indicates that only shots fired by the suspect caused injury or death at the scene,” the statement said. “Officer Burns’ quick action avoided additional harm to the public.”
Patrol special police are community police officers who are chartered separately from the San Francisco Police Department but operate under its supervision.
Buckelew said that between the gunfire from both shooting suspects, and the patrol special officer, 44 bullet casings were found at the scene.
The second suspect, described as a black male about 6 feet 3 inches tall and 175 pounds with black dreadlocks, was last seen running north on Mason Street, Tomioka said. He was wearing a white and tan hooded sweatshirt.
Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call the Police Department’s confidential tip line at (415) 575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411.
Police are investigating the possibility that an argument that began inside the club and spilled outside may have prompted the shooting. They are also investigating whether the shooting was related to an overflow crowd at a nearby hotel.
Some witnesses have been uncooperative, police said.
The shooting had some city officials calling for the club’s closure, citing previous incidents in the neighborhood.
On Monday, the club management agreed to a temporary 30-day closure, according to the mayor’s office.
