Aug 12, 2008 2:30 pm US/Pacific
SF Excelsior Residents Demand End To Violence
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) ―
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A storefront which had been hit by gunfire in San Francisco's Excelsior district displays an anti-gun placard Tuesday.
CBS
Officials in San Francisco's Excelsior district, concerned about an increase in violence in the area in recent months, Tuesday announced a heightened police presence and called on residents to help fight crime.
Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval, speaking at a news conference attended by police and neighborhood business owners, noted the district has suffered eight homicides in the past five months, in which several of the victims were under age 25.
"When you combine that with all the families that live in this community, it is absolutely shocking," Sandoval said.
Mary Harris, president of the neighborhood District 11 Council, said residents are frightened.
"We're jumping out of our skins every time we hear a car backfire, or Fourth of July fireworks," Harris said. "Gunfire has become commonplace in the Excelsior, in our neighborhoods."
"Community members need to come together" to stop the violence, she said.
Joseph Smooke of the Excelsior Teen Center noted that violence "does disproportionately affect our youth, but also the families of our youth."
"You don't read about in the paper the people that are actually impacted by the violence, every day," Smooke said.
Sandoval, who faces a runoff election for a San Francisco Superior Court seat in November against incumbent Judge Thomas Mellon, held the news conference in front of a Mission Street shoe store that was the scene of a shooting just last week.
No one was injured in the shooting, but a bullet went through the store's window, Sandoval said.
Police Capt. Denis O'Leary said Tuesday he is "very concerned" about the recent violence, and announced an increase in beat officers patrolling Mission Street, and in gang task force presence in the area.
Sandoval also announced a $50,000 reward for information in the case of Luis Solari, a 37-year-old Richmond deliveryman fatally shot on the nearby Interstate Highway 280 in April.
"Many of these cases cannot be solved without the public's cooperation," Sandoval said. "We need your help. We need you to stand up and help us solve these crimes."
Anyone with information about this and other violent crimes is asked to call the police anonymous tip line at (415) 575-4444.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)
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