A robbery against an elderly Chinese woman in Sunset District leads to 4 arrests linked to 5 criminal incidents in one single day in San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO — The recent arrest of four suspects linked to a street robbery in the Sunset District and four auto burglaries in San Francisco's tourist areas highlights the importance of reporting crimes and the effectiveness of the newly-established Real-Time Investigation Center in combating violent crimes.

A total of five criminal incidents that occurred on April 1, 2026 are believed to involve the same four suspects, three young men and one female.

Sources confirmed with Wind Newspaper that the victim in the robbery on the Irving Street business corridor in Sunset District was a 69-year-old Chinese woman.

Sources said that among the four suspects, three men and one woman, three are African American and one is of unknown race.

According to the information released by the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD), the robbery occurred at 1:45 p.m. on Wednesday, April 1, on the 2200 block of Irving Street at the corner of 23rd Avenue in the Sunset District. It was a rainy day when the robbery occurred.

The SFPD video footage showed the victim standing at a bus stop in front of the S & B Asian Supermarket on 23rd Avenue before she was robbed.

Two men were seen in the video walking on Irving Street turning right onto 23rd Avenue and approaching the victim to grab her purse. The suspects' white vehicle was also seen slowing down and turning right from Irving Street onto 23rd Avenue next to two suspects.

After being robbed, the victim tried to take back her purse and chased two suspects. Two suspects then got into the white vehicle and fled.

Once the SFPD received information about the robbery, officers responded to the scene and checked nearby surveillance cameras. The record check revealed that the white vehicle driven by the suspects was a reported stolen vehicle from Hayward in the East Bay.

The victim suffered non-life-threatening injuries and declined further medical treatment, according to the SFPD.

The SFPD notified its Real Time Investigation Center (RTIC), which was established in 2025 to assist officers on-site with advanced technologies like drones and license plate reading tools.

Investigators at the Real Time Investigation Center (RTIC) were able to locate the suspects' vehicle via drones from the sky while it was driving in the Palace of Fine Arts area.

Investigators at the Real-Time Center also observed suspects in the vehicle casing multiple vehicles before they committed two auto burglaries in the parking lot surrounding the Palace of Fine Arts.

"As the vehicle fled the area, plainclothes officers-maintained surveillance and developed an apprehension plan to safely take the suspects into custody," SFPD said.

Investigators monitored the suspects' vehicle from the Real-Time Center and plainclothes officers followed it on the ground.

Eventually, the vehicle was demobilized near Van Ness Avenue and Lombard Street after being involved in three separate vehicle collisions. No injuries were reported as a result of the collisions.

As the vehicle stopped on an uphill slope in the Marina neighborhood, four suspects fled and abandoned the vehicle without turning off the engine. That caused the vehicle to roll backward down the hill and collide with other vehicles on the street.

Two suspects fled and climbed onto the roof of the nearby buildings. Drones captured the movements of those fleeing.

Officers initiated a foot pursuit and apprehended both suspects. Other two suspects were taken into custody when they exited the vehicle.

Officers searched the suspects' vehicle and found that the same four suspects committed two more auto burglaries at the Legion of Honor parking lot in the Richmond District before arriving at the Palace of Fine Arts.

Officers seized multiple pieces of stolen property as evidence. The robbery victim along with auto burglary victims received their recovered stolen property at Taraval Station.

Four suspects arrested in connection with five incidents on April 1 are Charles Eason, 25, of San Francisco, Jamaul Mullins, 22, of Pittsburg; Major Skinner, 18, of Oakland, and Daija Bartholomew, 25, of Antioch.

Four suspects were booked on multiple charges including: conspiracy, 2nd degree robbery, elder abuse causing injury, possession and use of a stolen vehicle, three counts of 2nd degree burglaries, committing a felony while masked, possession of burglary tools, resisting arrest, four counts of possession of stolen property, and three counts of non-injury hit and run.

"I am grateful for the work of our officers and will continue working closely with SFPD and our partners to support safety, coordination, and accountability in our communities," District 4 Supervisor Alan Wong thanked SFPD for the arrests made and posted his comment on X. "This remains an active investigation. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the SFPD."

The data from SFPD shows that 22 robberies were reported up to April 3 in 2026 in the Taraval Police Station district, which also covers Inner Sunset, Ingleside and Oceanview neighborhoods, a decrease of 18.5% compared to the 27 robberies reported in 2025.

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Portia Li is the editor and publisher of Wind Newspaper. Prior to co-founding the Wind Newspaper in 2020, Portia was a senior and investigative reporter for over three decades at the San Francisco Bureau of World Journal. She was born and raised in Hong Kong, educated in Taiwan and the United States. She has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from National Chengchi University of Taiwan and a master’s degree in Mass Communication from Utah State University. In 2021, Portia was a recipient of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Northern California Chapter’s Career Achievement Award in Print. She can be reached at portia@WindNewspaper.com.