Community outraged – police shoot man over a dozen times
Friday, March 28, 201
A setting sun tinted the San Francisco skyline orange as a crowd of about 150 people gathered March 24 around an altar on Bernal Hill, erected at the spot where a young man was allegedly shot over a dozen times by San Francisco Police officers just days before.
This man was named Alejandro Nieto, and to most of those in attendance at the Monday night vigil, he was loved dearly. He was a son, a friend, a brother—whether in blood, spirit, or in faith.
He was intelligent, motivated, kind, and he was spiritual, they attested—a practicing buddhist and criminal justice major at City College of San Francisco (CCSF) who had aspirations of becoming a probation officer.
“He probably came up here to meditate, to clear his mind,” said CCSF Professor and author Benjamin Bac Sierra, who is also a close friend. Others whispered that he was eating a burrito before going to work at his job as a security guard at the Excelsior night club “El Toro.”
With grief and disbelief mirrored in their faces, his loved ones stood shoulder to shoulder atop the hill on which the 28-year-old Nieto was shot multiple times at 7:18 p.m. on March 21 by at least two police officers.
What exactly happened on that evening is still unclear, but a sequence of events was presented by Police Chief Greg Suhr at a townhall meeting a day later that stretched over four hours. The Chief may as well have been under gunfire himself, as his ten minute presentation was repeatedly interrupted by a hollering crowd spilling out of the Leonard R. Flynn Elementary School’s packed cafeteria.
The tension in the room was palpable as nearly a dozen armed police officers lined the walls with somber demeanors—causing some community members to accuse them of being apathetic and indifferent to the case.
“Fuck the police!” and “murderer” were a few of the expletives hurled at them by friends and community members of the slain man.
Nieto—who was licensed to carry a Taser for his job and was scheduled to work that Friday evening— had his hands behind his back as the officers “triangulated” around him at a distance of about 75 feet, asking him to show his hands. “When the officers asked him to show his hands, he drew his Taser from the holster,” said Suhr. “And the officers saw the laser on them, tracking. They believed it to be a firearm—and they fired at Mr. Nieto.”
When asked after the meeting about who drew their weapons first, Suhr stated that both Nieto and the officers pulled at the same time.
Sources claim that Nieto was shot 14 times
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