A San Francisco city employee is now the suspect in a stabbing that unfolded before dawn in the Cathedral Hill neighborhood, ending with police surrounding his own apartment and a crisis negotiation team talking him out peacefully. Police arrested 45-year-old Walter Monge on suspicion of stabbing an acquaintance, though as of Tuesday afternoon no charges had been filed against him.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, officers responded at about 1:30 a.m. last Saturday to an alleged stabbing in the 800 block of Franklin Street. They found a man with an apparent laceration wound that was not life-threatening and provided him aid at the scene. Police believed Monge knew the victim, though the exact nature of their relationship remained unclear at the time, the Chronicle reported.
Barricade Situation Ends Without Further Incident
Officers tracked the suspect to his own apartment, where he barricaded himself inside, according to the same report. The department's hostage and crisis negotiation team was brought in and helped reach a peaceful resolution, with police detaining Monge without further incident. He was then booked into custody under the full name Walter A. Monge.
Jail records listed the charges against him as assault with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment, battery with serious bodily injury and mayhem, per the Chronicle's report. Despite that list of allegations, the Chronicle's report noted that as of Tuesday afternoon, Monge was out of custody and the District Attorney's Office had not filed any formal charges, saying only that the case remained under review.
Suspect Identified as City Case Manager
Monge appears to work as a case manager and neighborhood business coordinator at San Francisco's Office of Small Business, according to city website and HR information cited in the same account. He had reportedly worked for the city for more than four years. The Office of Small Business operates out of San Francisco's City Hall, at 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 140.
The agency that oversees the city's small business office, the Office of Economic and Workforce Development, acknowledged the situation through a spokesperson. Kate Patterson, identified in the Chronicle's report as a spokesperson for that office, said officials were monitoring the situation.
The early-morning scramble in Cathedral Hill — a stabbing, a barricade, and a negotiated surrender, all tied to a city employee with more than four years on the job — has left plenty of open questions. For now, the matter sits with the District Attorney's Office, where the case remains under review.
