On the way home from work yesterday we noticed that Richland was completely cordoned off by the police. There were flares set up at the ends of the street and yellow police tape strung across the road. We tried to catch a glimpse of what was going on but couldn't figure it out. So, we headed home, parked the car, and tried to forget about it. We then heard a police helicopter flying overhead. I couldn't stand it anymore and decided to check it out. An older lady standing on the corner carrying her groceries told me someone was killed down the street at the Shell station, but she had no idea why the cops were near us on Richland. I walked towards the liquor store on the corner of Richland and Mission and took some pictures. I then headed into the liquor store to pick up a six pack and find out what went down. The stock boy told me in his broken English that there was a car accident down the street. That didn't clear anything up, so I went up to the register and tried to get some info from a lady buying cigarettes. She said that the car involved in the killing at the Shell station was found parked on the Richland bridge. The cops had closed off the street and were questioning everyone. She was concerned that her neighbor, who was wanted by the cops for a completely separate issue, was going to get busted. "The Feds knock on his door every week," she said. I headed back home and found the old lady still on the corner. She had her groceries all over the sidewalk; she must have been searching for something. I relayed to her the information I had learned. We both told each other to stay safe.
Later that evening Sandy and I went out for a walk to meet some friends. We passed the Shell station. It had yellow police tape around it's perimeter and a t.v. crew was setting up cameras. A brick post had clearly been hit by a car and was in pieces. About six blocks farther into our walk we passed by a funeral home on Valencia and 26th. There were at least 150 gang members in front of the funeral home whistling, yelling, and conversing. Every single one including grandmothers was wearing red and white. Lots of baseball caps and 49ers jackets. I've never seen anything of the sort in my life. It was straight out of a bad cop drama. Trying not to stare and give anyone a reason to talk to us, we walked past the crowd. We noticed a cop car at the end of the block watching everything. We decided to take a cab home that night instead of walking.
Here are the newspaper articles about the incident at the Shell station and the Richland bridge. The funeral home on Valencia is also mentioned, although there is no mention about gangs.
Man allegedly runs over another man at SF gas stationArrest in deadly gas station hit-run
