Suspect killed in SF police shooting had armed robbery record

Crime scene tape whips in the wind as pedestrians cross Geneva Avenue Thursday, March 22, 2018 in San Francisco, Calif. following a shooting that occurred nearby at Amazon Barber Shop Wednesday, March 21. Crime scene tape whips in the wind as pedestrians cross Geneva Avenue Thursday, March 22, 2018 in San Francisco, Calif. following a shooting that occurred nearby at Amazon Barber Shop Wednesday, March 21. Photo: Jessica Christian / The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Jessica Christian / The Chronicle Image 1 of / 20 Caption Close Suspect killed in SF police shooting had armed robbery record 1 / 20 Back to Gallery

The brother of a man killed by San Francisco police in a barbershop shootout Wednesday can’t understand why his sibling would fire first on officers.

Tariq Eid, 18, idolized his older brother, Jehad Eid, who he said set an example of discipline and hard work. The family of the 21-year-old from Suisun City is searching for answers on what would lead him to allegedly open fire on police in a chaotic shootout that left five others wounded, including an officer and a teenager.

On Wednesday, police said they returned fire only after Jehad Eid — who was on probation for a 2015 armed robbery — shot at them inside the Amazon Barber Shop at the corner of London Street and Geneva Avenue in San Francisco’s Excelsior neighborhood.

Officers had come to the area around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday on a report of a man with a gun, officials said. Police were called by one of Jehad Eid’s family members, according to a source familiar with the investigation. Some of the people who work at the barbershop are related to him, Tariq Eid said.

“I’ve seen the cops shoot people in videos on Twitter, but I never thought my brother would be one of those people,” he said. “I just can’t believe it.”

Jehad Eid came with his family to America when he was a baby from the Palestinian territories. They first settled in San Francisco, where Tariq Eid was born, and eventually moved to Fairfield around 10 years ago. The family now lives in Suisun City. Jehad Eid went to Fairfield High School and recently worked at a Metro PCS store in the city. He enjoyed making customized shirts, honoring people who had died with the acronym “RIP.”

“He was an artist,” Tariq Eid said.

The scene at the barbershop Thursday morning was remarkably different than that of a little more than 12 hours prior.

Shop owner Vladmir Shteynberg cleaned up blood at the century-old barbershop, which is decorated with framed black-and-white photos, and a police inspector used a hammer, chisel and jigsaw to free bullets lodged in the floor and walls.

Barbers and customers who witnessed the gun battle were hanging out Thursday, loudly recounting the previous day’s drama as things began returning to normal.

“We’re going back to work,” Shteynberg said. “Tomorrow will probably be a normal day.”

John, a regular at the barbershop who did not want his last name used, arrived with half a haircut Thursday morning. He was in the middle of getting a fade when the shooting started.

The suspect, he said, was sitting on a black couch near a corner at the end of the shop, from where he opened fire after police identified him.

An officer, he said, tried to get the suspect’s attention by calling out, “black White Sox hat.”

“When he said, ‘White Sox hat,’ that’s when that little dude pulled a gun out and popped twice. Pop, pop,” John said. “Immediate chaos. Immediate chaos broke.”

In the front of the shop, the barber in the first chair, Ernest “Doc” Conway, was shot in the thigh. He was treated at San Francisco General Hospital and was expected to go home soon, Shteynberg said.

The barber in the fourth chair, Abdel Wahhab, had three broken bones from bullet fragments in his foot and will require additional surgery. Bystanders dragged him screaming into a pharmacy next door as police flooded to the scene.

A teenage victim, who Shteynberg said would hang out at the shop after school in hopes of learning the trade, was hit in the ankle and is recovering.

A barber who did not want to give his name said he was giving a haircut when the shooting started. He crouched behind his chair and was unharmed as bullets whizzed past his head and struck the wall a couple of feet away.

“I was standing here cutting hair, saw the cops walk in, next thing you know all I hear is shots,” he said. “I ducked down. As soon as the opportunity came, I moved.”

The barber bolted for the back of the building, where the children of a regular customer were eating pizza in a back room.

“This is a neighborhood barbershop. It’s a good barbershop,” he said. “Decent human beings come in here. We got officers, firemen — priests come in here.”

On the way out the back, the barber said, he felt the suspect’s body drop against him.

The shooting, like all officer-involved shootings in the city, is under investigation by the San Francisco Police Department’s homicide detail and Internal Affairs Division and by the San Francisco District Attorney’s Independent Investigations Bureau and the Department of Police Accountability.

Investigators did not immediately say whose shots injured the victims inside the shop.

Police will be holding a town hall meeting within 10 days of the shooting to meet with community members and release more details of the investigation.

Tariq Eid said he is skeptical about accounts of the incident and refused to believe his brother initiated the gunfire.

“My brother did not have that mentality to shoot first,” he said. “He was a caring person.”