SAN FRANCISCO—One man was killed and another was wounded in a shooting on a packed subway train in San Francisco Wednesday morning, police said.
“There was an altercation between folks who may have known each other inside the subway before it stopped in Castro,” said Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who represents the Castro District. Mandelman said that while the person who was killed appeared to be part of the altercation, the second man who was shot and wounded is believed to have been an innocent bystander.
San Francisco police spokeswoman Officer Kathryn Winters said Wednesday’s shooting is believed to have been the first-ever on a train with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency—also known as Muni. The agency operates most public transportation in the city, including trains, buses, streetcars, and San Francisco’s iconic cable cars.
The shooting happened around 10 a.m. on a Muni train traveling between the Forest Hill and Castro stations.
“When the train stopped, the perpetrator ran out, along with all of the people on the packed train,” said Supervisor Myrna Melgar, who represents the Forest Hill neighborhood.
Police were looking for a man described only as wearing dark clothes and a dark hooded jacket. Winters said all Muni trains and subway stations have cameras, and police were reviewing the footage.
The station where the suspect ran out is at the heart of San Francisco’s famous Castro neighborhood.
Subway service was suspended indefinitely in the area as police gathered evidence and passengers were being shuttled on buses between Muni stations.
Danny Tran, a sales associate at Knob, a clothing store across the street from the Muni station, said it was “alarming” to hear of a shooting inside the city’s subway system.
“You don’t expect to go in and have a shooting in front of your workplace,” he said.
