The cancellation of the popular Sunset Night Market was a disappointment to business owners and residents alike. But now a community group is organizing a new, smaller-scale version of the Irving Street event.

It's being dubbed Sunset After Dark, and as ABC 7 reports, it's scheduled for September 26.

"There's definitely gonna be food vendors," says organizer Rob Aiavao, speaking to ABC 7. "There's going to be vendors selling, you know, wares, trinkets, as well as activities for kids that are going to be put on by some of the local schools."

Aiavao, who grew up in SF's Chinatown, is a board member of Dear Community, a local group that came together during the pandemic to combat the rise in anti-Asian hate. The group has as part of its mission "healing our community by curating safe space events that foster discourse while generating income for merchants fighting to survive," and they thought that reviving the night market was a good cause.

Local business owner Daniel Ramirez, owner of Smokin D's on Irving Street, tells ABC 7 that he also saw an opportunity for "a community-driven event" to help bolster foot traffic for businesses like his this summer.

The original organizers of the Sunset Night Market, which happened in August and September of 2024 and stretched across seven blocks of Irving, from 19th Avenue to 26th Avenue, announced last month that the event was "on pause" for this year. This was due in part to delays in reimbursement payments from the city, which caused significant financial strain — but a number of people cited the unwieldy size of the event as well, which drew upwards of 20,000 people.

Still others who are gunning for the recall of Supervisor Joel Engardio framed the cancellation in more negative terms, given that Engardio was an early champion of the event when it launched in slightly smaller form in 2023.

Engardio tells ABC 7 that he's "really excited that people are coming together to create something a little smaller scale, but perhaps more sustainable and something that we can do more often."

The event is expected to occupy just three blocks of Irving Street.

The election to decide whether to recall Engardio, which will only involve District 4, will be happening 10 days before this night market, on September 16.

Vendor applications for both food and non-food vendors are currently open for Sunset After Dark. Email hello@dearcommunity.org for more information.

The Sunset Night Market Collaborative, meanwhile, expects to bring back its night market at a smaller scale in 2026.

Previously: Sunset Night Market on Pause, Possibly Falling Victim to Recall Fight Involving Supervisor Joel Engardio

After losing a court battle as well as a previous government appeal, the “No Slums in the Sunset” crowd is back with another appeal of an affordable housing project, this time claiming concerns over “soil vapor.”

Long-running animus against a seven-story, 90-unit affordable housing complex has roiled the single-family home neighborhood of the Outer Sunset, and the “Kick out the Chinese, Bring in Gangs” flyers likely played some role in Gordon Mar’s narrow District 4 election loss this past November. (Yet his successor Joel Engardio also supports the project.)

Opponents of the project have tried to get an injunction against it, but a judge shot them down in December 2021. Then opponents appealed the project this year, but the SF Board of Appeals denied their appeal in February.

Unsurprisingly, those same neighbors are submitting yet another appeal. The Chronicle reports the Mid-Sunset Neighborhood Association is appealing the affordable housing project again, this time complaining there are environmental contaminants on the site.

“Clean it up before you build it up,” the appellant Mid-Sunset Neighborhood Association’s president Flo Kimmerling told the Chronicle.

The 2550 Irving site was most recently a Police Credit Union, but had once been a dry cleaner called Miracle Cleaners, while another dry cleaner called Albrite Cleaners operated down the street at 2511 Irving Street. The appellants say that there’s leftover carcinogen tetrachloroethylene (PCE) contaminating the site, and are now demanding that the developer Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation perform “soil vapor extraction” before beginning construction on the site.

Mayor London Breed’s office feels they appellants are just grasping at straws. “The production of new affordable housing units at 2550 Irving is critical to addressing the affordable housing shortage,” Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development spokesperson Audrey Abadilla Rivera told the Chronicle. “There is a tremendous need for affordable family housing in the Sunset.”

The Board of Appeals hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, August 16 at 5 p.m.

Related: Judge Tosses NIMBY Legal Motion Against Sunset 100% Affordable Housing Project [SFist]

Image via Pyatok

Two people were injured leaping from windows to escape the fire, with three others injured by the fire itself, as an early Tuesday morning fire at the Sunset’s Avalon Sunset Towers is believed to have been caused by an e-bike’s lithium-ion battery.

A fire broke out shortly before 1 a.m. Tuesday morning at the Avalon Sunset Towers, injuring five people altogether, according to the Chronicle. Three people were injured by the fire itself at 6 Locksley Avenue in the Inner Sunset, and SF Fire Department Captain Jonathan Baxter tells the Chronicle that “Two individuals ultimately jumped from windows for their safety,” and were also injured. All five victims are expected to recover.

KPIX adds that eight people have been displaced by the fire, though only two units were damaged.

KTVU has the additional detail that the fire is believed to have been caused by a lithium-ion battery used on an e-bike, though the Chronicle adds that the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

KTVU adds in their 9:20 a.m. update to their story that “Three of the five people hurt were still recovering at the hospital.”

In the aftermath, the SF Fire Department is talking up their tips for disposing of old batteries. “These batteries, which are often the rechargeable kind, are stamped with ‘Lithium’ or ‘Li’ or ‘Li-ion,’” the department tweeted. “Please tape over the ends of these batteries before recycling. Left uncovered, they can cause fires if they come in contact with other batteries.”

“Batteries that are bulging, corroded, leaking, or showing burn marks can also cause fires,” they add. “Call 415-330-1405 or 415-355-3700 for special instructions.  Do NOT place on a bin or in a bucket.”

Related: 'Possible Gas Explosion' and Fire Destroys Sunset Home, Damages Others [SFist]

Image: @SFFDPIO via Twitter

A 47-year-old man from the East Bay has been identified as the suspect driver in a horrific pedestrian collision in the Outer Sunset on Monday, and police now say he was high on prescription drugs and cannabis.

The suspect has been identified as Robert Green of Hayward, and police say he was going 60 miles per hour in a 25-mph zone, and he blew through a stop sign at the intersection of 24th Avenue and Santiago Street on Monday around 10:52 a.m.

The intersection is a four-way stop-sign intersection that sits at one corner of McCoppin Square park.

Two women in a marked crosswalk were struck by Green's car. One was killed, and the other was seriously injured. Neither of the victims have been publicly identified.

Green's car then crashed into a parked vehicle, and he sustained minor injuries.

As KTVU reports, Green remained at the scene and told officers that his brakes had gone out. Green was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and he is expected to appear in court Thursday.

The SFPD now says that Green was intoxicated on prescription medication and cannabis at the time of the crash.

"This incident highlights the broader challenges in our city right now in keeping, ensuring safety on our streets for pedestrians and especially our most vulnerable, our seniors and families with kids," said Supervisor Gordon Mar in a tweet that caused a stir on Twitter.

As SFist reported Tuesday, local Twitter celebrity Mc "Mack" Allen, the Muni driver who went viral last year for his tweets dissecting the Muni fight scene in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, began trolling/engaging with Supervisor Mar following this tweet about the collision.

"Your heartbreak and anger need to spend today focusing on where your priorities lie: with the expedited movement of cars or the safety and vibrancy of human beings. That means barricades, bollards, and streets closed to cars," Mack wrote, pointing out that Mar had pushed to curtail the pandemic-era Slow Streets program in the Sunset.

Mar is facing a challenger for his District 4 seat currently, Joel Engardio, and it remains to be seen if his board seat is secure, or if this event may sway some voters.

Previously: After Pedestrian Fatality In Sunset, Twitter-Famous Muni Driver Slams Supervisor Mar For Scaling Back Slow Streets

When a Monday pedestrian death brought grievances from the district’s supervisor Gordon Mar, Mar himself took some grief from a local Twitter celebrity over shutting down Slow Streets in the Sunset.

It is a common, perhaps formulaic, but certainly tasteful gesture that when a San Francisco resident is killed unexpectedly, an elected official takes to Twitter to eulogize the victim and decry the circumstances that led to that person’s death. Such was the case with a Monday traffic collision in the Sunset District that killed one pedestrian and hospitalized another. (The driver was reportedly traveling over the speed limit and blew through a Stop sign). The district’s supervisor Gordon Mar posted the tweet below, vowed a community meeting on traffic safety, and complained to KGO about “a lack of enforcement by SFPD in issuing traffic citations in preventing this.”  

Mar is not exactly going out on a limb on that one. The Chronicle ran an August piece on how stunningly few citations SFPD issues for traffic violations. But given Mar’s role in scaling back Slow Streets in the Sunset District, he got some blowback from probably the most  internet-famous Muni driver in the city, who replies, “Remind me if you’re the same supervisor who demanded the removal of slow streets in the Sunset?”  This is a good zing.

The discourse escalates, but first some background on Twitter user Mack, yes, That Mack, otherwise known as real-life Muni driver Mc "Mack" Allen. Allen gained fame with a viral Twitter thread (seen below) fine-tooth-combing the Muni martial arts fight scene in last year’s Marvel Studios hit Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. This made him something of a Muni celebrity, earning him podcast appearances and stints at the popular spoken word show Muni Diaries Live.

But back to the Slow Streets squabble: In April 2021, Supervisor Mar took the lead in eliminating some Sunset District Slow Streets, replacing that system with a watered down version called Sunset Neighborways. This effectively “un-designated” some (but not all) Sunset District Slow Streets, allowing all cars to return, but instead installing “speed humps, traffic circles, crosswalk upgrades, and traffic diversion at targeted locations.” Several Sunset school principals had clamored for the change.

Obviously this did not please Slow Streets fans, “Your heartbreak and anger need to spend today focusing on where your priorities lie: with the expedited movement of cars or the safety and vibrancy of human beings,” Mack responds. “When you traded safe roadways by schools for more expedient passage for cars, school drop off and pickup were made both less safe and more dependent on cars. If a child is hit by a car at a school, that’s on you, and the principals, who asked for it.”

That last sentiment may be a little much, particularly for someone who drives a motor vehicle for a living. (Muni buses have hit pedestrians too!) And while the corner in Monday’s accident is not and never was a Slow Street, there is the larger matter that Mar has actively scaled back Slow Streets, and helped bring cars back to the Great Highway. As such, Mar can be rightfully labeled “pro-car” by pedestrian and bicycle activists.

Mar did actually respond, but took the high road, saying “Mack, please join us in pushing SFMTA to move faster and be bolder for the Sunset Neighborways project:”

Is the “pro-car” label a  political liability for Supervisor Mar? He is up for reelection just two weeks from today. Though it’s unclear if his challenger Joel Engardio has a ton of support among the Slow Streets set. So this may or may not be a wedge issue for Mar electorally. But he will be remembered as the supervisor who nixed some significant car-free streets, whether he ends up serving one term or two.  

Related: Is Mayor Breed Trying to Finish Off SF’s Slow Streets? Recent Developments Raise Questions [SFist]

Image: Bennett W. via Yelp

The Epoch Times-Shen Yun faction of San Francisco politics is slinging some pretty toxic mud at District 4 Supervisor Gordon Mar, with an anonymous flyering campaign accusing him of “grooming children” and providing “free money to crackheads.”

It’s an election year, so you can expect to see increasingly ugly attacks lodged as the summer turns to autumn and turns to November 8. But in the City and County of San Francisco, you do not expect to see QAnon-type attacks full of demonstrable racism and Pizzagate pedophilia theories. Yet here we are with the upcoming supervisorial race in the Sunset, as the Chronicle reports of anonymous flyers smearing Supervisor Gordon Mar, with descriptors like “Communist Pedophile” and “Grooming Children.”    

The two examples above were posted by Mar himself in a Tuesday tweet, saying they were applied “Over the weekend and under the cover of darkness.” One of them affixes the words “Communist Pedophile” onto a Mar campaign sign posted at what appears to be a produce market.  

The second sign goes harder, bullet-pointing Mar’s name with “More Drugs, More Homelessness, Grooming Children, Free Money to Crackheads, Kick out the Chinese, bring in Gangs.” That one is slapped over an event flyer from the Chinese Real Estate Association of America, an apolitical group that mostly does social mixers and webinars for real estate agents. It does not appear the anti-Mar flyers are targeting that association per se, it’s probably just that their event poster is nearly three years old, and seemed fair game for covering over.  

Nonetheless, this is hardly a far cry from the “No Slums in the Sunset” flyers that popped up last summer — flyers that labeled a proposed affordable housing project in the neighborhood as "the best place in San Francisco to buy heroin," and called Mar a “CCP member” (meaning Chinese Communist Party).

Mar took to Twitter and declared, “These flyers bear a striking resemblance to the ‘No Slums in the Sunset’ flyers that also used red scare rhetoric to attack me for daring to support affordable housing for working families.” Mar additionally linked the flyer campaign to the anti-LGBT “groomer” and “pedophile” tropes, and the death threats against Sen. Scott Wiener over his trans rights legislation.

Mar is up for reelection in November, in what might end up being a competitive race. He has two opponents in Joel Egardio and Leanna Louie, both of whose candidacies seem predicated criticizing Mar for opposing the recalls of school board members and DA Chesa Boudin. Both Louie and Engardio have condemned the flyers on social media.

But the flyers certainly speak to an emerging Trumper element in SF Chinese-American politics. Obviously, there is not a lot of unpacking we need to do when suggesting that “Free Money to Crackheads” and “Bring in Gangs” are very obviously racist sentiments.

But the “Communist” attack is straight from the pages of the Falun Gong-affiliated newspaper Epoch Times, a free paper found about town that virulently opposes the current Chinese government (they're also behind the running joke that is Shen Yun). And that paper has greased the skids for “Communist” to be a gateway insult that leads to automatic affiliation with Satanic child-sex cabals. Whomever is behind this clearly sees the tactic of using Mar's Chinese-American heritage against him, in a district with a large Asian-American plurality, as a strategy to turn some voters against him. But is anyone buying it?

Related: Mad Mud is Flying as Six Supervisor Seats Are Up for Grabs in November Election [SFist]

Image: @D4GordonMar via Twitter

It’s real name is the 19th Avenue Combined City Project, but Sunset District residents and motorists will probably have other words for this water- and sewer-line overhaul slated to last until 2023.

Should you be a person who sometimes finds themselves driving themselves up and down 19th Avenue in the Sunset District, it is time to get to know your local side streets. The jackhammers, trucks, and terrific traffic delays will be descending on 19th Avenue for the next 27 months, according to the Examiner, as something the DPW is calling the 19th Avenue Combined City Project will reduce stretches of 19th Avenue from three-lane traffic to two.

19th Avenue will still remain open throughout the long affair, but for the next two months, you’ll probably want to avoid the six blocks of 19th Avenue between Golden Gate Park and Noriega Street. That’s just the first of many affected areas in the “extensive” overhaul of street and underground infrastructure, which the Examiner says includes “replacement of water and sewer mains, street base repairs, installation of new ADA-compliant curb ramps, construction of bulbs to shorten the walking distance required to cross the street, concrete bus pads, traffic signal improvements and sidewalk widening at bus stops.”

Crews actually started this week (though they have today off), but things get serious on Monday when they begin saw-cutting roadway on the southbound lanes on the block between Lincoln Way and Irving Street, expected to last until mid-November. The block between Judah and Kirkham Streets is up next (expected to be finished in early January), then Kirkham to Lawton Street for much of the rest of January. The project will keep removing a lane from a particular block for, well, years, hence the projected traffic nightmares.

Hoodline adds this is also part of Muni’s 28 19th Avenue Rapid Project that includes some sidewalk widening and bus stop consolidation that hopes to (eventually) make the 28-line bus experience smoother. They’ve already started changing locations on stops, and you can expect to see much more of that in the future.

19th Avenue is of course a part of California’s famed State Route 1, which means Caltrans has their hands in on this as well. They'll be repaving 19th Ave. all the way from the park to Holloway Avenue,  a stretch of a couple miles.

Related: Four Years Into Van Ness Bus Lane Project, Red Concrete Gets Poured for Lanes [SFist]

Image: Google Street View

Former Oakland Mayor Jean Quan and her husband Dr. Floyd Huen, along with partner Ryan Hudson of The Apothecarium, will have to look elsewhere with their hopes to open a medical marijuana dispensary after last night's Board of Supervisors meeting. The meeting was a late and emotional one, as SF Weekly reports, with marijuana advocates facing off with Outer Sunset residents and marijuana foes, and the Board ultimately voting 9 to 2 against approving what would be a third location for the swanky pot emporium after a recent (and hard-won) expansion to the Marina.

Only Supervisors Malia Cohen and Jeff Sheehy voted in favor of the dispensary, which had been the target of a negative lobbying campaign by the somewhat shadowy Pacific Justice Institute — a conservative religious group based in Sacramento that previously filed a lawsuit over the Dolores Park pissoir.

Quan's dispensary had seemed ready to roll after getting easy approval by the Planning Commission in July, with plans to provide Cantonese speakers to help the Chinese-American population in the Outer Sunset better understand the benefits of medical cannabis.

In a weird twist, the Chronicle kinda jumped the gun on their report of the meeting, which assumed the dispensary would be approved unanimously, and published and tweeted a story saying so before the vote was even taken. Not sure what happened there, but the story has since been corrected.

As the Examiner reports, the Pacific Justice Institute was hired by the Ark of Hope Preschool, which argued during the hearing that the dispensary was too close to it and a church. Huen, speaking the Examiner, blamed the anti-LGBT group for "whipping up" Sunset residents to oppose the dispensary.

An attorney for the group spoke at the hearing saying "In the eyes of federal law, the Apothecarium is no different than the street corner crack dealer."

Supervisor Katy Tang spoke out against the group but still said that she had heard from "an overwhelming majority of people who live in the Sunset" that they opposed this dispensary.

This was among the last dispensaries in the pipeline to receive a hearing ahead of a 45-day moratorium that the supervisors approved ahead of the coming full legalization of recreational pot, which takes effect January 1.

Previously: Jean Quan's Sunset Pot Shop Ready To Roll After Planning Commission Approval

A man walking on a quiet Sunset District street was robbed Monday morning, by a man apparently aided by a getaway driver.

Police say that the crime went down at 9:18 a.m. Monday, near the intersection of 24th Avenue and Lawton Street.

According to the San Francisco Police Department, the 74-year-old male victim was carrying a leather pouch as he walked down the street. Suddenly, a man who looked to be in his 30s "ran up to" the victim, police say.

The running man snatched the pouch from the victim's grasp, then leapt into a waiting vehicle. The driver of the car piloted it in an unknown direction, successfully fleeing the scene.

The victim, who was uninjured in the robbery, lost his pouch, cash, and "miscellaneous cards" in the heist. According to the SFPD, the suspects remain at large as of Tuesday morning, and no arrests have been made in the case.

The most interesting marijuana dispensary poised to be added to the San Francisco weed-buying landscape is the proposed Apothecarium at Noriega Street and 32nd Avenue, interesting because it would be co-owned by former Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, because the proposal was angrily shouted down by a mob of Sunset residents in March, and because of additional drama between the Apothecarium and a right-wing lobbying group called the Pacific Justice Institute.

It all came down to Thursday night’s Planning Commission meeting at which this Apothecarium location was considered for final approval. The San Francisco Examiner estimates that more 700 people waited to speak, many of them shouted, things got unruly, and after a marathon, packed-house debate, Planning approved the Apothecarium dispensary by a 5-1 vote at 11:40 p.m., according to Hoodline.

This Planning Commission meeting did not get quite as unruly as the March community meeting at which Quan’s husband Dr. Floyd Yuen was hollered down and not allowed to speak. But as seen above, there was still significant yelling and mayhem by neighborhood opponents. According to a later tweet from ABC 7’s Lisa Amin Gulezian, the proceedings devolved even further when “someone claim[ed] to have fainted” but “others say it was all a stunt.”

This particular dispensary says they will employ Cantonese-speaking staff and create an understanding of proper medical cannabis use among the neighborhood’s Chinese-American community. Quan was likely brought in because of her Chinese-American heritage and history of passing cannabis legislation in Oakland, though her husband (a gerontologist) would be the more active co-owner.

Quan seems to admit as much. "This is my husband's project," Quan told Hoodline, "but my Chinese is better than his."

What rankles residents and created additional pause for the Planning Commission was whether this dispensary would be automatically grandfathered in for recreational cannabis sales when all adult sales become legal January 1, 2018. “It’s not known if it will actually come to [the Planning commission] yet,” commission director John Rahaim said at the meeting. “It would be very unlikely that it would just be automatic.”

There are currently no marijuana dispensaries in the neighborhood, and many residents want to keep it that way — because of the children! “They will see it, smell it and hear it," one woman said at the meeting, per Hoodline. "You will plant a marijuana seed in their heart."

Personally, I would love to see “Plant a marijuana seed in their heart" become the official motto of all dispensaries that face any community opposition. But for those who would love to see the Apothecarium denied its permits, there is still hope. An appeal of Planning’s decision could go before the Board of Supervisors, where the proposal could still be voted down.

Related: Dope! Amoeba Music In Berkeley Can Now Sell Pot

A group of three teenagers beat and robbed a Sunset District pedestrian last week, but as of Monday the knife-wielding miscreants remain at large.

The San Francisco Police Department alerted media to the crime this Monday: A group of three males aged 17-18 attacked a 16-year-old as he walked down a busy Sunset District street, threatening him at knifepoint and stealing his possessions.

Police say that the victim was walking near Ulloa Street and Sunset Boulevard when he was approached by the three suspects at 9:30 p.m. last Wednesday.

According to the SFPD, one of the teens "pulled a knife" and threatened the victim. When the victim tried to flee, a second suspect tripped him, causing him to fall to the ground.

A third suspect held him down, as the first two went through his pockets and stole his belongings.

All told, the teens absconded with the victim's wallet, his cash, he cell phone, and a portable charger. They also left him with non-life-threatening injuries, police say.

The suspects fled on foot following the crime, and haven't been seen since. As of Monday afternoon, police confirm that the larcenous trio remain at large.

The sushi chef and owner at Taraval Okazu Ya (1735 Taraval Street near 28th Avenue) in the Outer Sunset did not care back in 2016 if he alienated some customers by declaring his support for Donald Trump. Writing "Make America Great Again" and other messages on the top of his white-board menu, the chef-owner says he was trying to express his hope that Hillary Clinton would not continue the status quo of what he considered to be an out-of-control government. But now, as Hoodline tells us, he's backed off that, realizing that he disagrees with President Trump's stance on immigration, for one, and it seems like he wants those alienated customers to know this and stop giving him bad Yelp reviews.

Hoodline declines to identify him by name, strangely, but now the chef-owner, who's a Chinese-Japanese immigrant himself and became a US citizen 37 years ago, tells the site that Trump is an "unpredictable person, because he doesn’t know what he wants," and "He’s so stupid. He’s scary."

He says of most immigrants, "They are good people. Why do we send them away? They contribute a lot to this country. Donald Trump is harming people."

He says he "definitely" would not vote for Trump again, and he expects that Trump's tax reform plan will fail the same way his health care plan did.

As for the white board menu, it now says more neutral things at the top, like on Saturday it just said "April Fool's Day" on it.

This is the image officers got Friday from security camera identified as the suspect as they looked for him after shooting. pic.twitter.com/cgvDRjJpgp

— Vic Lee (@vicleeabc7) October 17, 2016

The man who allegedly shot a San Francisco Police Department officer Friday has been identified this morning, a day after he succumbed to injuries sustained as police attempted to subdue him following the attack.

According to the San Francisco Medical Examiner's Office 26-year-old Nicholas McWherter, a resident of Pacifica, was the man who allegedly shot an SFPD officer identified by multiple news outlets as 25-year-old Kevin Downs at around 8:15 Friday evening.

As previously reported, police say that Downs and his partner were called to the Lakeshore Plaza Shopping Center on reports that McWherter was "threatening people and causing a disturbance" in what was identified by Hoodline as the Big 5 sporting goods store.

Police tracked McWherter to the first block of Everglade Drive, which is at the easternmost tip of the shopping center, but "When the officers made contact with the subject, he turned toward the officers and fired multiple shots, striking one of the officers in the head," police said early Saturday morning.

"Two people, a cop and then the other guy was running from this direction that way and then all we heard was shots, like four or five shots and then we heard a scream like officer down really loudly," witness Alex Melendez told ABC 7.

"The officer had no clue he had a firearm. And before he knew it, the subject fired on him," Chaplin told media Sunday.

McWherter fled into Stern Grove, police say, spurring a massive manhunt in the area. At around 9:17 p.m., police say he "emerged from the bushes located at 28th Avenue and Vicente Street." As McWherter allegedly "attempted to flee," several officers gave chase and shot him, striking him and causing him to fall to the ground.

According to the SFPD, even after he fell "he continued to hold the firearm near his chest while refusing multiple verbal commands to surrender," therefore "tactical officers deployed flash bang devices to distract the suspect and were able to take him into custody."

Both Downs, who a police spokesperson emphasizes has not been identified by the SFPD, and McWherter were transported to San Francisco General Hospital for treatment of their injuries. According to the SFPD, at 3:16 p.m. on Sunday McWherter "passed due to his injuries."

According to SFPD Chief Toney Chaplin, who visited with Downs Sunday, the officer "remains in critical, but stable condition after receiving a gunshot wound to the head." Addressing the media following the visit, Chaplin said that while the situation remains serious, it could have been a lot worse, saying “One centimeter down and this may have been a fatality for the officer. He underwent surgery to remove fragments from his brain,” and is currently suffering from partial paralysis as a result of his injuries.

ABC 7 reports that Downs has been with the SFPD for two years. His father is a retired San Francisco police officer, they say.

"The officer and his family are extremely grateful for the outpouring of support from members of the public as well as Mayor Ed Lee, the Board of Supervisors and the Police Commission," the SFPD said via statement. "At this time, the officer’s family requests privacy to focus on a successful recovery."

A spokesperson with the SFPD says that this remains an open and active investigation, with police now focusing on McWherter's background. According to police, before he died his family was "able to visit with him" and was "briefed on the investigation.”

Chaplin says that police made every effort to safely detain McWherter, but were ultimately unsucessful.

“This is 21st century policing at its best,” Chaplin told media. “They did everything they could to make sure sure that at least the subject had a fighting chance.”

According to an SFPD spokesperson, a town hall meeting will be held this week — perhaps as soon as Thursday — to give residents information about the shooting, and that "more details will be made available as the investigation unfolds."

Previously: Police Arrest Man Who Allegedly Shot SFPD Officer In Head Following Massive Manhunt

Thanks to all who responded and outside agencies who helped out. Thank you @SF_emergency for your dispatchers @SFPD @CHPSanFrancisco 🙏👮🏻 pic.twitter.com/iZEqJ1Qpvp

— Officer Manfredi (@OfficerManfredi) October 15, 2016

A quiet neighborhood in San Francisco was left shaken Friday night, after law enforcement agents swarmed the area in search of a man who allegedly shot a San Francisco Police Department officer in the head.

The incident began to unfold at 8:15 p.m. Friday, when police were called to the Lakeshore Plaza Shopping Center, a Sunset District strip mall located on Sloat Boulevard, a few short blocks from the Sigmund Stern Recreation Grove.

Police were told, the SFPD said in a written statement, that a man at the shopping center was "threatening people and causing a disturbance." Officers tracked the suspect to the first block of Everglade Drive, which is at the easternmost tip of the shopping center, but "When the officers made contact with the subject, he turned toward the officers and fired multiple shots, striking one of the officers in the head."

As the injured officer's partner rushed to render aid, the suspect fled toward Stern Grove, according to the SFPD. After a call for backup, police surrounded Stern Grove, and SFPD's tactical unit responded to the scene.

According to Hoodline, K9 units joined plainclothes and uniformed officers in the search for the suspect. Vehicular traffic on 19th was stopped as the manhunt continued, and the suspect's description was sent to every officer on the force.

A California Highway Patrol helicopter unit also joined the search, Hoodline reports. In their statement, the SFPD also thanks the "San Francisco Fire Department, the Department of Public Health, the Department of Emergency Management, the Recreation and Parks Department...the Daly City Police Department, the San Bruno Police Department and other allied agencies" for assistance in the incident.

At around 9:17 p.m., police say the suspect "emerged from the bushes located at 28th Avenue and Vicente Street," which is just north of Stern Grove. As the suspect "attempted to flee," several officers gave chase and shot at the suspect, striking him and causing him to fall to the ground.

According to the SFPD, even after he fell "he continued to hold the firearm near his chest while refusing multiple verbal commands to surrender," therefore "tactical officers deployed flash bang devices to distract the suspect and were able to take him into custody."

Both the suspect and the injured officer were transported to San Francisco General Hospital for treatment of their injuries, police say. Neither have been publicly identified as of publication time, but KTVU reports that the injured officer is named Kevin Downs, and "is new to the San Francisco police department." The injured officer "is currently in critical condition but is conscious and with his family members," according to the SFPD

The Chron reports that Mayor Ed Lee visited the officer late Friday, "and said [the officer] looked and sounded alert."

“I had a chance to thank him and meet his family. I’m very grateful,” Lee said.

This is the first San Francisco police officer shot in the line of duty in nearly ten years. On December 22, 2006, Officer Bryan Tuvera was shot and killed in a Sunset District garage, following the pursuit of convicted felon Marlon Ruff, who has escaped from a state prison fire camp. Ruff reportedly ambushed Tuvera and his partner in a garage on the 1600 block of 25th Avenue, which is between Lawton and Moraga Streets. Ruff reportedly shot and killed himself following Tuvera's slaying, officials said at the time. (Old timers might also recall this related incident, which some say led in part to then-Mayor Gavin Newsom's decision to eventually enter a rehab program for alcohol abuse.)

Returning to the present, in a statement sent early Saturday, SFPD Interim Chief Toney Chaplin said “Our thoughts are with our injured officer and his family...Our officers each day put their lives at risk to protect and serve San Francisco and we are grateful for the outpouring of support we saw Friday evening from San Franciscans who were concerned for the officer’s well-being."

"SFPD is proud of the officers involved in tonight's events. Knowing that a fellow member was down, these officers acted with a focus on containing the threat posed by the suspect and maintaining public safety."

According to SFPD spokesperson Officer Giselle Talkoff, Chaplin will be addressing the media at 11 a.m. Saturday from SF General. We'll update this report with any new information he provides at that time.

Update: Chaplin addressed the media Saturday but did not reveal either the name of the suspect or the injured officer. According to ABC 7, the officer remains in critical condition.

Update 2: The Chronicle confirms that the wounded officer is Kevin Downs, and says he was in "good spirits" Saturday after coming out of surgery, according to a family friend. Also:

Downs co-founded an organization called Ranchin’ Vets that helps veterans who served after 9/11. The organization partners with ranches and farms from across the country to create opportunities in the agricultural industry for veterans and helps them in their transition from military to civilian life.

The family of a San Francisco man who disappeared earlier this month hasn't given up hope that they'll find him, saying that his cell phone still appears to be active.

The Richmond District Blog reports that 26-year-old Sunset resident Adam Li was last seen on September 15, on 45th Avenue between Fulton and Cabrillo Streets.

Li, who reportedly suffers from bipolar disorder and depression, has disappeared before, but this is the longest he's been missing, his brother Aaron says.

"The police pinged Adam’s cell phone on Tuesday night," TRDB reports, "and received a signal location around 42nd Avenue and Clement Street."

"But when police arrived at the location, they did not see anyone resembling Adam, and his cell phone was turned off shortly after."

He's described as a 5' 7" Chinese male with a slim build, weighing in at about 140 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes, his family says.

According to a flier being passed out by the Li family, Adam is "a very timid person and can be unpredictable," and his brother says that he has "poor social skills and may get spooked and run if confronted." Therefore, if you do spot him you're urged to instead contact 911 (say you're reporting a sighting of missing person Adam Li), or call Aaron Li (415-867-9829), Alex Li (415-939-8229), or Mrs. Li (415-806-6889).