SAN FRANCISCO --

A cook taking a break at a restaurant in San Francisco's Mission District was shot and critically wounded early Tuesday by a man who mistook him for a gang member, police said.

The victim, a 22-year-old father of two who works two jobs to support his family, was shot in the head near the corner of 19th and San Carlos streets at about 12:30 a.m., police and co-workers said.

The man was taken to San Francisco General Hospital, where he was in critical condition, said Lt. Troy Dangerfield, a Police Department spokesman.

The man, whose name was not released, has been working as a line cook at the Hog and Rocks restaurant at 3431 19th St. for about six months, said owner David Esler.

The victim was taking a cigarette break with a co-worker and another man behind the restaurant, Esler said, when two Latino men in their 20s wearing dark clothing and hoodies approached and pointed a gun at them.

"They pointed a gun at the three guys, asking in Spanish, 'Are you scrubs? Are you scrubs?' " Esler said.

One of the men shot the cook in the head, and both assailants ran west on 19th Street, police said. No arrests have been made.

Esler said the kitchen staffers at Hog and Rocks, many of them extended family members, are close.

"We're just trying to figure out how he's doing," Esler said of the shooting victim. "The staff is shaken."

Joe Gentempo, a cook at the restaurant, described his co-worker as quiet and friendly.

"You could say positive things about him all day long," he said.

The man works another job at a bakery downtown to support his family, Gentempo said.

Esler said that although there has been gang activity in the area, police have told him the victim is not in a gang.

"It was a random act of violence," he said. "We hope the city takes note and increases police presence, and they can prevent it from happening in the future."

Chronicle staff writer Henry K. Lee contributed to this report.