Tonight: SFPD Town Hall To Discuss Castro Halloween Shooting

Tonight: SFPD Town Hall To Discuss Castro Halloween ShootingPhoto: Steven Bracco/Hoodline
Shane Downing
Published on November 07, 2017

Tonight, police are holding a town hall meeting to discuss an officer-involved shooting that occurred on Halloween night in the Castro.

As we previously reported, a SFPD officer assigned to the area was shot at approximately 12:03am on November 1st.

According to the department’s Facebook page, tonight's session will “provide the community with an update on the investigation.”

Officer Shawn Kai Hintzen, 41, was responding to a report of a suspicious vehicle near 18th and Diamond streets with his partner when “there was an exchange of gunfire between the suspect and at least one officer,” police reported.

Hintzen and suspect Sesar Valdez, 32, a Hayward resident, were both wounded and hospitalized for their injuries, according to Mission Local.

Several minutes later at 12:10am—a block away from the officer-involved shooting—three suspects flagged down a vehicle near Diamond and Market streets and carjacked the driver at gunpoint. The suspects were identified as two women and a man.

The car was later recovered on the first block of Oakwood, between 18th and 19th streets in the Mission.

At the time, it was unclear if there was any connection between the carjacking and the officer-involved shooting.

Tonight’s meeting will begin at 6pm at the Eureka Valley Rec Center (100 Collingwood St.). SFPD Chief William Scott, Metro Division Commander Daniel Perea and Mission Station Captain Gaetano Caltagirone will reportedly be in attendance.

Here’s why we usually don’t include suspect descriptions in crime reports.