Robbery suspect shot while struggling with off-duty S.F. cop

A suspect in a series of early-morning crimes in San Francisco was shot and badly wounded while fighting with an off-duty city police officer he had tried to rob early Wednesday in the Lower Nob Hill neighborhood, authorities said.

The struggle and shooting happened in the lobby of an apartment building on the 900 block of Leavenworth Street — the home of the officer, a 15-year department veteran who trains others in hand-to-hand combat.

It was not immediately clear if the suspect or the officer had pulled the trigger of the officer’s gun, said San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr. But he said the suspect, after being confronted, yelled, “You’re going to have to shoot me.”

“The officer gets bit. It’s a really vigorous fight,” Suhr said. “There’s quite a bit of blood inside the area. The suspect goes for the officer’s holstered weapon, and now it’s a life-and-death struggle over the weapon, and the weapon discharges one time.”

The incident, the chief said, began when the suspect, whose name wasn’t immediately released, tried to break into a car on the 1100 block of Pine Street.

The suspect turned his attention to a man walking around the corner and hit him with a chair leg while robbing him, Suhr said. He said the victim did not immediately call police, but returned home, got ready for work and then emerged from his home and saw the suspect in Another Cafe at the corner of Pine and Leavenworth.

The suspect was apparently startled, because he allegedly threw a cup of hot coffee on a woman. The man fled — with a barista in pursuit — and went into an apartment building on Leavenworth just as the off-duty police officer was coming out of his residence there, Suhr said.

The suspect tried to rob the officer, who showed his weapon and police credentials and identified himself as an officer, Suhr said. The officer, not believing the suspect had a weapon, decided to take the suspect into custody “hand to hand” and reholstered his weapon, Suhr said.

Photo: Google Maps 900 block of Leavenworth, San Francisco, CA

The two began fighting, at which point the suspect tried to grab the officer’s gun and was shot in the upper body, the chief said.

As the struggle continued, backup officers arrived, but they could not get into the building because of a locked gate. The officer called out the gate code to his colleagues, who rushed in and took the suspect into custody, Suhr said.

The suspect was taken to San Francisco General Hospital, where he was reported to be in critical but stable condition.

The officer was “just going to work (and) he got attacked in the hallway,” Suhr said. “Again he had the presence of mind to go through all the different channels before it got down to a firearm. He didn’t pull the firearm — there was a struggle over the firearm.”

The officer, whose name wasn’t released, is expected to recover. The shooting is under investigation by police and the district attorney’s office.

Henry K. Lee and Hamed Aleaziz are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. E-mail: hlee@sfchronicle.com, haleaziz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @henryklee, @haleaziz