S.F. vigil honors 4 shot dead in Hayes Valley

Video: Vigil march

Dozens of people gathered Monday evening to pay their respects to the four men recently slain in Hayes Valley and to call for peace after the bloodshed.

The group — which included family members of the deceased, Supervisors London Breed and Scott Wiener, Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi and Police Chief Greg Suhr — gathered at the African American Arts and Culture Complex around 6 p.m., about a half mile from where the men were shot and killed as they sat in a double-parked, stolen Honda on Friday night around 10 p.m.

Madrid Johnson, whose nephew Manuel O’Neal was one of the four killed, described the 22-year-old as a good person who wasn’t involved in drugs or gangs.

“He was a great kid with a great future,” he said. “He just made a bad mistake, like a lot of the kids out there. They think it’s cool to hang out but in the end, this bad mistake got him killed.”

The mood was somber as the gathering opened with a prayer that called for mercy for the heavy hearts of loved ones and the community.

More than 50 people marched through Hayes Valley on Monday, January 12, 2015, to pay their respects to the four men recently slain in the neighborhood. More than 50 people marched through Hayes Valley on Monday, January 12, 2015, to pay their respects to the four men recently slain in the neighborhood. Photo: Vivian Ho, Chronicle Photo: Vivian Ho, Chronicle Image 1 of / 30 Caption Close S.F. vigil honors 4 shot dead in Hayes Valley 1 / 30 Back to Gallery

“As a mother who lost a son to gun violence right across the street, I need not tell you the pain the mothers are feeling right now,” said Mattie Scott, a community organizer whose 24-year-old son, George C. Scott, was killed trying to stop an altercation nearly 20 years ago.

She asked for anyone who has lost a loved one to violence to raise a hand. Half the room raised their hands, quiet as two children played in the circle.

“Look at those babies,” Scott said softly. “Look at them play. We want them to grow up.”

People broke down in tears during the speeches but were surrounded by others, holding them up. Outside the room, a woman later identified as a mother of one of the victims howled and sobbed in grief. Members of the group quickly ran to comfort her.

After the speeches, the group grew to more than 50 and a slow procession began to the scene of the slayings. As they marched down Fulton Street toward where the four men died, attendees lit candles and sang, “We Shall Overcome.”

Earlier Monday, the city medical examiner identified the four men gunned down at Laguna and Page streets as Yalani Chinyamurindi, 19; 20-year-old David Saucier of Antioch; and San Francisco residents Harith Atchan, 21, and O’Neal, 22.

Some of the victims’ family members spoke at the street corner where they died, as the group crowded around a makeshift memorial, candles in hand.

“These young men were valuable young people,” said Javonne Atchan Gwinn, aunt of Harith Atchan. “They had lives. They did not make every decision right, but they had value.”

Breed, who represents the neighborhood and grew up there, called for the community to come together.

“We have a role to play,” she said. “We don’t have the luxury when we know our kids are involved in this. We don’t have the luxury to protect them. We have to get our kids off the street.”

Suhr called the quadruple homicide a symptom of a larger problem in the U.S.: the prevalence and proliferation of firearms.

“There is a gun problem in this country and San Francisco is no exception,” he said as he called for people in the community to turn in their weapons. “Please, no more.”

Shawn Richard, 46, who runs Brothers Against Guns, a community organization working to end violence, asked the community to come forward with information about the shooting. His younger brother died in violence, and he said he would have wanted someone to come forward.

“It takes the hood to save the hood,” he said. “Theses families are suffering. When I say I know what they’re going through, I know what they’re going through.”