SFPD increase presence in response to youth violence and disturbance at Stonestown Mall

(SAN FRANCISCO) Stonestown Galleria Mall has been a memorable shopping center in the westside of San Francisco for over 71 years. A recent series of violence involving school age juveniles brutally attacking victims have put the vendors, employees and customers in fear.

Two brutal attacks against one victim in each incident occurred on March 15, Wednesday, and March 17, Friday, respectively at after-school hours in the Stonestown Mall.

Asian Crime Report, an account established since the pandemic in 2020 to post tweets and videos related to anti-Asian hate and violent incidents, released the first video on social media after the March 17 attack.

The video indicated that a large group of young men, mostly African Americans, repeatedly punched, kicked and stomped on one victim who was on the ground on the second floor of the shopping center next to the food court. The ethnicity of the victim was not able to be confirmed in the video.

Asian Crime Report then released another video on social media showing another brutal attack on another young man inside the Target Store at the Stonestown Mall. In that video, a large group of juveniles, mostly African Americans, repeatedly punched, kicked and stomped on a young man. The victim in the Target Stores looked Asian.

In a later time, Asian Crime Report posted more different videos on social media. One video indicated that an African American young woman attacked an Asian private security guard from behind and knocked him down to a door at the Stonestown Mall. Other security guards came to rescue him. The incident occurred on January 27.

More videos posted by the Asian Crime Report showed that two young women were involved in a fight at the parking lot of the Stonestown Mall. A white young woman was shown in a video that she was attacked and had her long hair pulled by a group of young people at the Target Store.

The Police Department stepped up the patrol at the Stonestown Mall starting March 20. Due to the staffing shortage, Assistant Police Chief David Lazar said the officers who were assigned to patrol the mall would be paid overtime. The Police Department has not announced any arrest made related to the Stonestown Mall attacks yet.

"The General Work unit is investigating the case and working to get victims to report and witnesses to come forward," said Lazar.

Stonestown Mall was built in 1952 in the Lakeside neighborhood next to the Sunset District. Presently the Stonestown Mall is managed by the Brookfield Properties which did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Wind Newspaper.

There are a number of public and private schools close to the Stonestown Mall including Lowell High School and San Francisco State University.

Dr. Mike Jones, Lowell High School principal, sent a letter to his staff and families of the students on March 16. "I am sending this letter as a reminder to our community of the expectations we have set for our entire school community. Engaging in any form of violence or a threatening manner will not be tolerated, and there will be consequences for those who engage in such behavior, even when such instances occur outside of school," Jones wrote.

Some vendors and employees in the Stonestown Mall spoke to Wind Newspaper about the youth violence, but they did not want their names to be released in the press for their own safety.

One eyewitness of the March 17 attack near the food court shared with Wind Newspaper about what he saw in the incident. He remembered the victim, who was a young man, was standing by the railing on the second floor of the mall and looking down to the first floor prior to the attack. The victim was not too far away from the eyewitness.

"I saw the victim was standing there alone by himself. All of a sudden, a large group of youngsters, mostly African Americans, came from the other side of the second floor and attacked the victim. There were no conversations between the victim and the assailants. I don't know if they knew each other. But there was no fight or argument before the attack," said the eyewitness.

"Police did arrive in a later time. I didn't see the police officers arrest anyone involved in the attack," the eyewitness added. "The situation has become a norm for sometime in the mall. The larger groups of students and juveniles would come on Wednesday and Friday afternoons," an employee said. "They alway come in small groups. But once many small groups come at the same time, they become a very big group. Then it rises to a level of more alert to all of us."

Another employee who works at the food court has seen that the young people would take the food without paying. On other occasions, the juveniles broke the chairs and tables for no reason.

The vendors and employees are hopeful that the situation would be better. They like to see more police officers in the mall to ensure safety for employees and customers.