Man critically wounded in shooting near SF’s Union Square

S.F. police investigate a shooting on O’Farrell Street, between Cyril Magnin and Mason streets, that led to a three-car crash. S.F. police investigate a shooting on O’Farrell Street, between Cyril Magnin and Mason streets, that led to a three-car crash. Photo: Jim Edelhauser / Courtesy Jim Edelhauser Photo: Jim Edelhauser / Courtesy Jim Edelhauser Image 1 of / 7 Caption Close Man critically wounded in shooting near SF’s Union Square 1 / 7 Back to Gallery

A man was shot and critically wounded Tuesday while in a car with a woman in the Union Square area of San Francisco, an incident that caused a three-vehicle crash, police and witnesses said.

Gunfire erupted at 6:26 a.m. on O’Farrell Street, between Cyril Magnin and Mason streets, setting off the ShotSpotter gunshot detection system in the area, said Officer Robert Rueca, a spokesman for the San Francisco Police Department.

When officers arrived at the scene, they found a man suffering from a gunshot wound and slumped over in the front seat of a badly damaged silver Nissan Infiniti.

“My husband’s been shot. My husband’s been shot,” screamed a woman who got out of the wrecked Infiniti after the crash, said witness Dylan Patel, who works in the area and was out having a smoke when the incident occurred.

The shooting victim, whose name was not immediately released, was taken to San Francisco General Hospital in critical condition, said Brent Andrew, a hospital spokesman.

“I heard a hella loud noise,” Patel said.

He said he called 911 and looked into one of the crashed cars and saw a man slumped over in the front seat bleeding heavily.

“The guy just looked like he was passed out,” he said of the victim.

Elliott Urbina, 30, of Fairfield, said he was driving his black BMW in the area and had just made a left turn onto O’Farrell Street from Mason when he was sideswiped by the silver Infiniti, which he estimated was going about 40 mph.

“The person was driving super, super fast,” said Urbina, who was not injured.

Urbina said the collision sent his car into a white Ford delivery truck.

He said the shooting apparently occurred shortly before the crash and that a woman driving the Infiniti was rushing the wounded man in her car to a hospital.

“When the accident happened, she jumped out of the car and was pleading for help,” Urbina said.

Rueca said no arrests were made and that a motive for the shooting was still being investigated Tuesday afternoon.

The collision closed the area around O’Farrell and Cyril Magnin streets until around 9:15 a.m., when roads reopened.

Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno