Police shoot, kill man holding replica gun at Mission Station

Police investigators gather on Valencia Street after an officer-involved shooting at the San Francisco Police Mission Station in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, January 4, 2015. Police investigators gather on Valencia Street after an officer-involved shooting at the San Francisco Police Mission Station in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, January 4, 2015. Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle Image 1 of / 12 Caption Close Police shoot, kill man holding replica gun at Mission Station 1 / 12 Back to Gallery

San Francisco police officers fatally shot a 32-year-old man Sunday after he pulled what turned out to be a replica gun while trespassing on restricted property in front of Mission Station, authorities said.

The shooting happened outside the station at 630 Valencia St. at about 5:14 p.m., with an officer reporting shots fired and a person down, and then requesting an ambulance.

San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr said the man had ventured into the parking lot of the police station, which is clearly marked as restricted to the public though the gate is kept open so police vehicles can easily enter and exit.

It is not uncommon for the public to enter the area, Suhr said, so three officers told the man to leave and got into their patrol car. But the suspect did not leave.

“They found this curious, approached him and told him again he can’t be there,” Suhr said. “He went to his waistband, where there was the butt of a gun, and drew a weapon. Two sergeants fired and hit him three times.”

The gun was later found to be an airsoft or BB gun. The man was transported to San Francisco General Hospital, where he died Sunday evening.

The man was not identified, but Suhr said he had approached officers earlier in the day on 16th Street and queried them about what kind of weapons they carry.

The officers were unhurt and will receive 10 days of administrative leave. Police cordoned off Valencia from 17th to 19th streets.

Hadley Robinson, a former editor of Mission Local who witnessed the incident, wrote on the blog that she was 10 feet away when she heard police telling the man to “back up or put your hands up.”

A bartender at the Elbo Room, directly across from the police station, said patrons heard several shots that sounded like fireworks and then saw a man lying facedown in the middle of Valencia Street.

On Sunday evening, many neighborhood residents and passersby gathered at the crime scene.

Joann Kuhl, who lives a few blocks away, said the shooting was rattling.

Kuhl said her biggest concern was that the shooting might “fuel the fire of a really bad state of affairs between police and their community.”

Suhr said that, like police stations across the nation in the aftermath of police-involved deaths in Ferguson, Mo., and New York City, San Francisco police have a heightened concern for officer safety.

“This is a job where very sadly we lose officers,” Suhr said. “It's on all our minds. But we’ve got a job to do, so we’re going to do it.”