FiDi & North Beach Crime Roundup: Carjacking, Shooting, Cell Phone Robberies & MorePhoto: Geri Koeppel/Hoodline
Nathan Falstreau
Published on May 28, 2016

The Central Station newsletter is on hiatus this week, as Captain David Lazar is on vacation until May 31st.

In the meantime, here are the crimes of note that we found in the SFPD daily recaps:

Illegal card game goes awry

We've reported on illegal card games happening around Fisherman's Wharf before and it seems that the practice continues. A particular one this past week ended with a victim being forcefully robbed. On May 20th at 1:30pm, the victim, a 21-year-old woman attempted to play a card game with the suspect, a man between 45 and 50 at Pier 35. When the woman pulled out a roll of cash, the suspect grabbed her money from her hand and a struggle ensued. The suspect was able to force the cash from her hand and fled in an unknown direction. 

Woman loses phone in quick grab

On May 20th at 10:45pm in Union Square, a woman was texting a friend on her phone when a suspect of unknown age grabbed her phone and fled on foot. 

Possible drive-by shooting leaves teens injured

We also reported earlier about a shooting in North Beach that sent two teens, aged 14 and 19 respectively, to the hospital with non-life-threatening gunshot wounds to the knee and shoulder. The unknown suspect(s) fled the scene in a four-door Infinity. The shooting is still under investigation.

Carjacking leads to three arrests

A 30-year-old man's Chevy Silverado was stolen last Saturday around noon, and eventually recovered.

The victim noticed that someone had double-parked his vehicle in the 900 block of Union Street in Russian Hill , and together with a friend approached the person sitting in the driver's seat. 

The driver denied that it was the victim's vehicle, and three other suspects came out from nearby, put some luggage into the bed of the truck and pulled out handguns.

The suspect driver pointed a gun at the victim owner's head, and one of the others pointed a gun at the second victim's head.

Then all of the suspects fled, the victims called 911, and the police pursued the suspects to near the intersections of Dormitory and Northridge in Bayview. Three of the four suspects were captured. One suspect is still at large. 

Man gets punched in the head, phone stolen 

In the FiDi on May 23rd at 2:10pm, a 61-year-old man was walking while talking on his cell phone when a male suspect between 18 and 20 years old grabbed the phone out of his hand and fled. The victim followed the suspect when five other suspects around the same age surrounded him. Two of the suspects hit the victim causing him to fall to the ground and continued to strike him while he was down. The suspects fled in an unknown direction and the victim was taken to the hospital with cuts to the head and a swollen cheek. His injuries were not considered life-threatening. 

Woman attacked, loses necklace

A woman, 21, was robbed of her necklace on the 600 block of Pacific Avenue in Chinatown May 24th at 3:08pm. The victim was holding a gate open for her friend when two women between the ages of 18 and 22 began punching and kicking her. When she fell to the ground, the two suspects took her necklace and fled the scene. The victim suffered from cuts to her arm and chin and was treated at the scene, but refused transport to a hospital. 

Fire started leads to arrest

In Union Square on May 25th at 1:15am, a man, 51, was caught lighting miscellaneous items on fire outside of a building. No injuries were reported and she was taken into custody by police. 

Suspect's card declined at store but takes food anyway

Two suspects, a man and a woman ages 22 and 27, entered a store at 2:40am in the FiDi and ordered food. The victim notified them that the credit card they used was declined, and the suspects became irate, spitting at the victim, and throwing the items on the counter. The suspects then grabbed the food from the counter and left the store. 

Cell phone user gets punched in the head, suspects run away with phone

A 42-year-old man was approached in the FiDi at 8:48pm by an unknown male suspect from behind. He grabbed the victim's wrist and took his cell phone from his hand. The phone dropped to the ground and the suspect punched the victim in the face before fleeing on foot. The victim complained of pain to his hand and face but refused transport to a hospital. His injuries are considered non-life-threatening.