Teen suspect, believed to have been involved in an armed robbery, died Tuesday night (Mar. 6) following an officer-involved shooting in San Francisco’s Mission District, according to NBC Bay Area. A Mexican national and high school graduate, Jesus Adolfo Delgado Duarte was 19 when he was pronounced dead at the scene located along Capp Street.
Reports say Delgado finished his shift and closed up shop at a Metro PCS store when he was waiting to be picked up by a friend. Hours later and a couple blocks away, Delgado became a suspect of armed robbery when two victims flagged down local police. A vehicle description led to the arrests of two suspects, one of which was the driver. Delgado was spotted hiding in the car’s trunk with the lid ajar.
“It sounded like there was one noise that went off first and there was 10 seconds of just plain, nothing happened,” witness Albert Balcazar said. “Then the cops asked him to come out with his hands up. I don’t think he did. He was yelling and screaming at the cops. After that, I just heard like 40 or 50 bullets going off, and I just took cover.”
Cops said as they tried to detain Delgado, the fatal police shooting occurred. In a video of the incident, reports Mission Local, police can be heard asking Delgado in Spanish to show his left hand. A barrage of shots is heard soon thereafter. Police said they found a handgun in the trunk, but it is still unclear if that weapon was used during the incident.
SFPD murdering undocumented kids of color in the Mission is gentrificaction’s death drive. #FTP Jesus Adolfo Delgado Duartehttps://t.co/AI8Id3Ct5l
— Gay Shame (@Evict_Twit_ter) March 9, 2018
Like most police shootings, there are conflicting reports of what exactly transpired. Witnesses who’ve watched captured footage of the incident say Delgado’s untimely death was unwarranted, yet one report alleges he pulled out a handgun.
“Delgado-Duarte was hidden in the the back of a black Honda Civic with the trunk ajar when police surrounded the vehicle. KPIX obtained bystander video appearing to show a person, now identified as Delgado-Duarte, stick a handgun out of the trunk and fire off a round in the direction of police,” describes SF Examiner.
Meanwhile, Delgado’s Metro PCS manager, Victor Gomez, has a very different account: “I just saw a video. I don’t know why they start shooting. It doesn’t make sense. They should have let him get out. It doesn’t make sense for them to say, ‘Pull your left hand out,’ and then to start shooting.”
SF robbery suspect killed by police identified as 19 year old, via @mdbarba https://t.co/BfSIQuG0mV pic.twitter.com/A6DK2idsq8
— SF Examiner (@sfexaminer) March 8, 2018
Maria Zaragoza, 18, who attended the memorial and protest that followed, said she saw Delgado that night: “Later that morning, I heard that he got shot,” she said, while trying to make sense of it all. “It was sad, because the video shows everything, of how he died, and he didn’t even deserve it.”
Mission Local also reports that Delgado was undocumented. According to his friends, he evaded the law for a reason. “That’s why he hid in the trunk,” said 19-year-old Mari Gallardo, who knew him from elementary school. “That was one of his greatest fears — to get deported.”
The investigation is ongoing. For more information on chain of events, visit here.