1 dead, 1 injured in shooting on San Francisco Muni train near the Castro; shooter at large
Two people were shot on a San Francisco public transit train Wednesday morning and the shooter is still at large, authorities said.
The attack left one person dead and injured the other, who was sent to a nearby hospital, according to a social media post from San Francisco Supervisor Myrna Melgar. The victims included a 27-year-old man who was pronounced dead at the scene and a 70-year-old man who was taken to a nearby hospital, according to the San Francisco Police Department.
Neither victim has been identified.
The shooting occurred about . 9:56 a.m. inside a San Francisco Muni Metro train between the Forest Hill and Castro stations. The gunman ran out of the train at the Castro station, according to Melgar.
There was a heated argument inside the train before shots were fired, Melgar told the Associated Press.
“There was an altercation between folks who may have known each other inside the subway before it stopped in Castro,” San Francisco Supervisor Rafael Mandelman told the AP.
Police are investigating a shooting that left a woman and a man dead on a bench on the train station platform along the tracks, authorities said.
Police released an image Wednesday night of a “person of interest” in the shooting, showing a man wearing dark clothing with a hat and a red bag. No arrests had been made and the investigation was continuing, the Police Department said. The attack is not considered an active shooter situation, Melgar added.
Transit officials temporarily halted all trains between the Forest Hill and Castro stations and began operating bus shuttles between the transit stops. By 1:45 p.m., train service had resumed, transit authorities said.
The shooting occurred the same day as the 100th birthday celebration for the historic Castro Theatre and as San Francisco Pride is gearing up for its annual festivities this weekend. Despite the proximity to the Castro district, a historic LGBTQ neighborhood, the shooting was not believed to be related to the Pride weekend, according to the Police Department.
Last week, police and the city’s mayor said they would skip this year’s parade because of organizers’ new ban on uniformed officers.
“This incident does not appear to be related to Pride festivities or targeting the LGBTQ community,” the department said in a Twitter post.
State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) said in a statement that the shooting happened on “a subway ride [he’d] taken thousands of times over the past 25 years.”
“It’s another reminder that as long as our country is awash in guns, shootings can happen anywhere, anytime,” Wiener said. “My heart goes out to the victims, and I know SFPD is working hard to apprehend the shooter.”
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