Shooting in SF’s Castro neighborhood leaves officer, suspect hospitalized

A San Francisco police officer was in critical condition Wednesday after being shot while exchanging gunfire with a man in the city’s Castro neighborhood, authorities said.

Officers were investigating a report of a suspicious car in the area of 18th and Diamond streets when the shootout occurred early Wednesday, just after midnight, according to police. Although police have said little about what happened, both the suspect and an officer, who was not named but identified as a 41-year-old crime-scene investigator, were wounded in subsequent gunfire and hospitalized.

Emergency dispatch recordings indicate that the officer, a nine-year veteran of the department, was shot in the stomach and the hand. He was taken into surgery about 5 a.m. and remained in critical but stable condition, said Brent Andrew, a spokesman for Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. The condition of the unidentified suspect was also critical.

The incident marked the latest serious attack on an on-duty officer in the city. Last month, an officer was stabbed in the leg after confronting a suspicious person at San Francisco International Airport. And on Oct. 18, an officer on bicycle patrol was badly injured when a suspect hit him with a sport utility vehicle three blocks from City Hall. The officer, Elia Lewin-Tankel, remains in critical condition.

“This is the second time that an officer has been critically injured within two weeks,” said Officer Grace Gatpandan, a spokeswoman for the city force. “It is a reminder to us that every time the men and women of the SFPD or any law enforcement officer puts on the uniform, their life is at risk.”

An officer-involved shooting occurred early Wednesday morning in the Castro neighborhood, police said. An officer-involved shooting occurred early Wednesday morning in the Castro neighborhood, police said. Photo: KTVU Photo: KTVU Image 1 of / 43 Caption Close Shooting in SF’s Castro neighborhood leaves officer, suspect hospitalized 1 / 43 Back to Gallery

City officials said Wednesday’s incident was not connected to Halloween celebrations in the neighborhood. The Castro has long been home to major street parties on the holiday, though activities have waned since nine people were injured in shootings there on Halloween in 2006. Those shootings led police to shut down the neighborhood’s official holiday event.

Police said officers were patrolling the Castro this Halloween when they were flagged down a few minutes after midnight by a person reporting a suspicious car. The car, a gray Chrysler sedan, later was determined to be stolen.

“Officers approached the vehicle to investigate further. There was an exchange of gunfire between the suspect and at least one officer,” said Sgt. Michael Andraychak, a police spokesman.

Dispatch recordings indicate that a man was locked inside the car and refused police orders to come out. It’s unclear from the recordings how the situation escalated.

“I need help. Officer down. Officer hit,” a voice called out on the radio.

The voice of what seems to be the injured officer can be heard on the line.

“I’ve been hit ... stomach, and shot in the hand,” the officer said.

Responding officers administered first aid to the injured officer and suspect until an ambulance arrived and transported both men to the hospital, according to the recordings.

A carjacking of a taxi was reported early Wednesday in the Castro, and officers were investigating whether it was related. Police responded to the carjacking at Diamond and Market streets, less than 300 feet away, seven minutes after the shooting.

A man in his 20s and two women whose ages were not known flagged a taxi in the area when the man brandished a gun, ordered the cabdriver to exit the red Ford Escape SUV and sped off. The stolen vehicle, operated by Super Cab, was later found unoccupied on Oakwood Street, police said.

One of the female suspects wore a black-and-white skull mask that was later found by police, according to dispatch recordings. The three suspects remained at large.

At The Edge on 18th Street, the closest bar to the shooting, general manager Michael Schauf said he was working the front door when he heard gunshots.

“Unfortunately, people came in unfazed” even though they heard the pops of gunfire, Schauf said. “It’s Halloween and we know that happens on Halloween. It’s consistent. It’s why they don’t have a big celebration anymore. Too much violence.”

Jose Vasquez, who lives on the street where the gunfire took place, said he heard so many pops he initially thought there was a mass shooting on Castro Street.

“I felt like we heard like 16 shots,” Vasquez, 24, said.

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

Twitter: @JennaJourno