65 shots in 15 seconds: video shows chaotic San Francisco police shootout

San Francisco police on Tuesday released body camera videos of a shootout in which seven officers fired their weapons at least 65 times at a suspect holed up in an RV on a residential street.

The chaotic scene, which occurred in Mission Bay the night of Feb. 17, had officers scrambling for cover and even shooting from their backs to return fire at a homicide suspect who allegedly shot two men, killing one.

According to the San Francisco Police Department, Joel Armstrong, a 31-year-old transient, twice shot at police from inside the RV, leading seven officers to return fire a total of 65 times in less than 15 seconds.

A police shootout in San Francisco on Feb. 17 featured seven officers firing their weapons 65 times in 15 seconds. Police said they were returning fire at a suspect holed up in an RV. A police shootout in San Francisco on Feb. 17 featured seven officers firing their weapons 65 times in 15 seconds. Police said they were returning fire at a suspect holed up in an RV. Photo: San Francisco Police Department Photo: San Francisco Police Department Image 1 of / 12 Caption Close 65 shots in 15 seconds: video shows chaotic San Francisco police shootout 1 / 12 Back to Gallery

The officers identified are Glennon Griffin, Anthony Sharron, Robby Wilkom, Matthew Nazar, Gregory Buhagiar, Steven Oesterich and Christopher Cotter.

No injuries were reported in the shooting.

“As an officer, if you feel like you’re being shot at — of course, we are always concerned about the public safety — but if my life is in danger, I have to make a split-second decision as to how I’m going to save my life and potentially the lives of the people I’m working with, as well as the public,” said Officer Robert Rueca, a spokesman for the San Francisco Police Department.

Armstrong had already killed a man and shot another in the Panhandle that evening before stealing an Amazon delivery driver’s Toyota 4Runner to make a getaway and hole up in the RV, according to police.

Just after midnight, officers found the stolen SUV parked behind an RV about 3 miles away near Alameda and De Haro streets — an area near office buildings and some apartments. At least a dozen police officers surrounded the vehicle, at times casually, before calling on Armstrong to come out with his hands up.

Body camera footage shows an officer, armed with an assault rifle, look into the window of the RV. He then runs back to two other officers who are standing about 10 feet away from the vehicle and says, “We got him. We got him. He’s in there.”

As several other police cruisers arrive on the scene, the officer directs them where to park as a precaution if Armstrong attempts to flee the RV.

“He’s in there laying down,” the officer says of Armstrong. “It looks like he’s asleep.”

As officers take positions behind the SUV and against a nearby wall, one officer wakes a man in a sleeping bag near the RV. “Go,” he says. “Get out of here.”

Using a loudspeaker, an officer yells for anyone inside the RV to come out with their hands up. Three people and a dog exit the RV, but Armstrong refuses.

After a couple of minutes, two shots are suddenly fired — police say they came from inside the RV — prompting the officers to fan out and start shooting their assault rifles and handguns. Several officers take cover behind the SUV, while one who falls to the ground shoots his handgun at an angle. Another trips over him.

After the shootout, a negotiator arrived on the scene. Armstrong was taken into custody two hours after the first officers arrived, police said. There was no immediate information as to whether the officers involved are still on administrative leave or how long they’ve been on the force.

The eruption of gunfire from the officers wasn’t a tactic but a response, said Franklin Zimring, a professor of law at UC Berkeley who viewed the body camera footage.

“What you have is a lot of shots in a little time,” he said. “It wasn’t a tactic. It was a collective response. The problem is that you haven’t coordinated who would be the designated shooters.”

Zimring added that the barrage of gunfire put civilians at risk, including the three people who came out of the RV.

In December 2016, the San Francisco Police Commission approved a use-of-force policy that would prohibit the city’s police officers from shooting at moving vehicles or using carotid restraints, but Rueca said the officers involved in the Feb. 17 shooting were in compliance with the policy because the RV was parked.

Though Armstrong reportedly fired his weapon four times — twice at officers, after allegedly fatally shooting Milkon Isleyen and injuring Justin Shivers — he currently faces one charge for murder and eight attempted murder charges. Armstrong smoked drugs with the two men before accusing them of raping his girlfriend and shooting them, police said.

He has also been charged with carjacking, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, discharge of a firearm and receiving stolen property.

On Tuesday, Police Chief Bill Scott and Southern District Captain Daryl Fong discussed residents’ concerns just down the street from where the officers fired at Alameda and De Haro streets. Many of the public speakers expressed outrage — not at the danger of the shootout, but at the city’s homelessness problem.

“We understand the behavior problems, and we understand the criminal activity, but there is a difference between homelessness and criminal activity,” Scott said. “We’re trying to address both.”