When his 2005 Honda Civic was stolen from outside his Burlingame home two days before Christmas, Patrick wasn’t sure he’d see it again.

Now he shudders at the thought of having to take it back.

“The officer said that no one would want the car after what’s been done,” the 55-year-old said.

On Jan. 9, four young men were shot and killed inside the vehicle as it sat double-parked in San Francisco’s Hayes Valley, one of the worst episodes of violence in recent city history.

Patrick, who asked that his last name be withheld because of his discomfort over the case, first learned the killings happened inside his car when contacted this week by The Chronicle.

He has no idea where the car was from Dec. 23 to the night of the slayings. That could be an important clue in an investigation that has yet to yield an arrest.

But in recent days, he’s learned the sedan’s windows were shot out, that it was riddled with bullets, and that four lives were snuffed out inside.

“I was really overwhelmed,” Patrick said. “I couldn’t believe it.”

Slain were San Francisco residents Yalani Chinyamurindi, 19, Harith Atchan, 21, and Manuel O’Neal, 22, along with 20-year-old Antioch resident David Saucier.

They were sitting in the vehicle at Page and Laguna streets around 10 p.m. when gunmen ambushed them. At least two calibers of bullets were used in an attack that police said appeared to be gang-related.

Patrick had reported to Burlingame police the theft of the Honda Civic, the second most popular target for car boosters statewide, behind the Honda Accord.

Then, soon after the shooting, a friend who learned of the massacre asked him whether the vehicle could be his.

“It looked like my car, but there are a lot of Honda Civics that get stolen,” Patrick said.

Now Patrick is in an almost surreal situation. He is managing his transportation needs, and those of his partner, while the car sits in a police impound lot.

His insurance company, he said, told him that in order for him to be paid the replacement value for his car, he needs to pick the vehicle up.

He spent two days trying to contact San Francisco police, he said, before he got in touch with a homicide investigator, who told him the department needed to keep the auto as evidence for anywhere from two weeks to two months.

The detective, though, told Patrick it was likely that no one would ever want to get behind the wheel of the car, and that he needed the insurance company to “total it out.”

“I’ve never had anything like this happen before,” Patrick said. “No. 1, having my car stolen, and No. 2, learning it was in the quadruple homicide — it’s really crazy.”

Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky