SFPD Ruling Attempted Homicide For Man Attacked At Duboce And Church, Vigil At 3:33pm

SFPD Ruling Attempted Homicide For Man Attacked At Duboce And Church, Vigil At 3:33pmPhoto: Facebook Brian Higgins / "Feather Lynn"
Roy
Published on August 13, 2014

UPDATE (9:30 AM): Supervisor Scott Wiener released a statement regarding the assault and safety in the neighborhood (below) ------------------ A family member positively identified an unconscious man found at Duboce and Church this past weekend as 31-year old Bryan Higgins or "Feather Lynn" as many people knew him. Feather lived in the Duboce Triangle and worked at Rosenberg Deli & Market. According to police reports, Feather was found unconscious around 7:30AM Sunday morning around Duboce and Church without any identifying information. Requests went out from the hospital and the SFPD asking for the communities help in identifying the man. Very quickly, a family member came forward and positively ID'd Feather. Yesterday, police declared the case an attempted homicide after evidence was introduced that suggested Feather was brutally attacked which reports say led to a fatal brain anyeurism that has left him on life support. The SFPD has little details on a suspect and is asking for the community's help in tracking down a white male in his late 20's and early 30's who was wearing a dark colored hoodie who was captured on Muni and surrounding businesses' security footage around the time of the assault. If you were in the vicinity of Duboce and Church in the early morning hours of Sunday, August 10th, or have details related to the crime, please contact the SFPD at 415-575-4444 or text TIP411 with “SFPD” at the start of the message. Feather's partner spoke with the San Francisco Bay Guardian sharing the upset of the loss of his partner and well-loved member of the radical faerie community. A vigil will be held at Duboce Park today at 3:33PM, the exact moment Feather's family has decided to take him off life support. Supervisor Scott Wiener posted the following statement on his Facebook page regarding Feather's death:

This tragic attack on a member of our community - which will become a homicide when Bryan is taken off life support later today - is another example of the very real public safety challenges we are facing in the Castro/Upper Market area. The problem is extensive, and the vicinity around the Market Street Safeway has real issues. Our neighborhood is split among three police precincts, and we're working with each of them to create a greater presence to address the day-in-day-out criminal behavior we are seeing. We get numb about it, because we see so much, but it needs to be addressed consistently. When you allow criminal behavior to go unchecked, it inevitably escalates and leads to violence. Addressing the "lesser" criminal behavior is key to preventing more serious crimes from happening. Regarding this specific attack, I've been in regular communication with the police, and they're conducting an extensive investigation and have good leads. They're taking the investigation very seriously. Fundamentally, we need to stay the course in growing our depleted and under-staffed police department back to full staffing. For years, the city didn't fund any academy classes, and the department shrunk from 2,000 to under 1,700 officers, at the same time our city was growing in population and adding neighborhoods that didn't exist previously. City Hall should have been expanding the department, not shrinking it, particularly since we've experienced a wave of retirements. In 2011, in my first year in office, we worked to fund the first academy class in years, and we are now funding 3 classes every year. With the academy graduation late last December, the department finally bottomed out and began to grow. Another class graduated this spring and another one graduates Friday night. We must continue to prioritize funding these classes, including when the economy goes south (as it always does) and the budget gets tight. If we continue to fund 3 classes a year, we will be back at 2,000 officers by 2018. I actually think we need more than that, given the city's growth. But, until we re-grow the department, we need to make do with what we have, and that means smart use of resources to nip in the bud criminal behavior before it escalates like this.
via Doug P, Waiyde P, Hoodline