San Francisco police grapple with reducing fatal shootings
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The fatal shooting of a homeless man came less than a minute after San Francisco police arrived in their patrol cars in response to a report of a knife-wielding suspect.
The shooting Thursday morning of Luis Gongera, 45, came amid federal and internal reviews of the San Francisco Police Department's use of deadly force prompted by officers' fatal shooting of a young black man carrying a knife in December.
Investigators with the SFPD and the city's district attorney's office will try to determine if the officers had reasons to fear for their lives or acted too quickly when they opened fire.
The U.S. Department of Justice agreed to review the department's policies and procedures after five police officers fired 20 bullets to kill Mario Woods, 26, on Dec. 2 in an incident captured on video and circulated widely online.
Chuck Wexler, the think tank's chief, said many U.S. law enforcement agencies are wrestling with the same issue of how to safely subdue a suspect armed with a dangerous weapon that is not a gun.