Officer-involved fatal shooting shuts down S.F.’s Market Street

A police officer involved shooting erupted in downtown San Francisco around noon, prompting the closure of Market Street. A police officer involved shooting erupted in downtown San Francisco around noon, prompting the closure of Market Street. Photo: CBS San Francisco Photo: CBS San Francisco Image 1 of / 13 Caption Close Officer-involved fatal shooting shuts down S.F.’s Market Street 1 / 13 Back to Gallery

A police sergeant shot a man dead shortly after noon Thursday near the bustling intersection of Eighth and Market streets in downtown San Francisco when the suspect grabbed another sergeant’s gun, setting off a fatal struggle, police officials and witnesses said.

“He’s got my gun! Shoot him!” the sergeant who was battling the man yelled to his colleague just before the deadly gunfire erupted, Police Chief Greg Suhr said.

The dead man, identified as being in his 20s, was shot twice by the sergeant and died at the scene in front of stunned passersby, authorities said.

The shooting occurred at 12:06 p.m. on Eighth Street, just south of Market, at the height of the lunch hour. Car, bus and streetcar traffic was shut down for blocks in all directions while police and medical examiner’s vehicles converged on the scene.

Suhr said the incident began when a construction worker flagged down a passing police vehicle. The worker told the two sergeants in the car that an unidentified man was throwing bottles into the street.

Video: Raw video from officer-involved shooting on Market St. in S.F.

The two sergeants located the man, talked to him and tried to arrest and handcuff him when he began fighting with them, Suhr said. The chief said the suspect “got on top of one sergeant” during the struggle. Suhr quoted the embattled sergeant’s words to his partner:

“He’s getting my gun! He’s getting my gun! He’s got my gun! Shoot him!”

Fearing for his colleague’s life, the other sergeant fired twice at close range, Suhr said.

Both sergeants were treated at a hospital for facial injuries. One also suffered an injured knee. Suhr described both officers as senior members of the police force, but did not identify them.

Homicide detectives and investigators were on the scene while traffic was rerouted. The suspect’s body was covered by a tarp on the sidewalk near police vehicles and a medical examiner’s van.

Market Street was closed between Sixth and Ninth streets for three hours. Eighth Street remained closed Thursday afternoon between Market and Mission, and Hyde Street was cordoned off between Fulton and Grove streets, police said.

One witness posted a photograph on social media sites that showed a bearded, mustached young man lying face up on the sidewalk, with gloved emergency workers attending to him and oxygen masks lying alongside.

Other witnesses described a tense, quickly unfolding scene of horror and confusion.

Coleogne Johnson, 47, of Pinole was eating lunch outside of the Civic Center BART Station just before the shooting.

“I heard two pops and the police just started swarming from everywhere,” he said. “It was scary.”

Another witness, who declined to give his name, gave an account that was similar to Suhr’s.

The suspect “got on top of the sergeant and started whipping his ass,” the man said. Asked if the man had gone for the officer’s gun, the witness nodded affirmatively.

Lindsay Jager was walking to a nearby bank when the shooting occurred.

“There’s always something going on over here,” she said. “I didn’t think it would happen in the daytime.”

Construction worker Calvin Marksman, 32, said of he man who was shot, “I saw him actually die. It was pretty bad.” He said he watched emergency workers administer CPR and place an oxygen mask over the dying man’s face.

He said that immediately after the shooting, police swarmed the area from all directions.

“There had to be 45 or so cops,” Marksman said. “It was crazy.”

The Civic Center Muni Station was shut down for nearly three hours, and there were delays on the F, 9, 9R, 19 and 21 lines, Muni said.

About five hours after the shooting, a half dozen protesters from the Stop Mass Incarceration group in Oakland gathered at the scene to shout slogans and pass out fliers.

“It’s gotten out of hand,“ said protester Hector Velez. “They shoot people knowing they‘re going to get away with it.“

Kale Williams, Jenna Lyons and Steve Rubenstein are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. E-mail: kwilliams@sfchronicle.com, Jlyons@sfchronicle.com and srubenstein@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SFkale, @JennaJourno and @SteveRubeSF