Robberies Hit Duboce Triangle

A handful of recent robberies have hit San Francisco's largely LGBT Duboce Triangle neighborhood as a new police captain joins the station that will oversee the area.

Current crime statistics on the neighborhood, which links the Upper Market area to the Castro district, aren't available, but police summaries offer some details of the robberies, in which guns were used.

The first incident happened at 11:30 p.m. April 25. A man was walking near 14th and Noe streets when another man "pulled out a handgun and demanded his property," Officer Albie Esparza, a police spokesman, said in a recap. The suspect took the victim's cellphone, and he and another suspect fled toward Castro Street.

The victim, 22, wasn't injured. The suspects were described as 20-year-old white men.

The next case occurred at 4:30 a.m. April 26, at Duboce and Divisadero streets.

The victim, 41, was walking down the street when the suspect approached him, wielded a handgun, and demanded his property, Esparza said. When the man refused, the suspect hit him with the gun. The victim then handed over his backpack, tablet, and phone, and the suspect got into a waiting dark BMW and fled.

The victim complained of pain to his cheek and was taken to California Pacific Medical Center.

The suspect was described as a black man in his 20s.

The third incident was at 12:32 a.m. April 27, at Sanchez and 14th streets.

Two suspects approached two men and demanded their property as one of the suspects pointed a handgun at the victims. The suspects, described as two white men, one in his late 20s and one in his mid-20s, then fled on foot with the victims' cellphones and wallets, Esparza said.

The victims, who were 23 and 31, weren't injured.

No arrests have been reported in the incidents.

Police Captain John Sanford Jr., who's been with the police department for almost 30 years, took over Park Station in March. The station oversees part of the Duboce Triangle and Castro neighborhoods, and Sanford recently told the Castro Merchants group that his district would soon overtake Duboce Triangle completely. The neighborhood has been split among police districts, but the lines have been redrawn as part of a process that happens every 10 years.

In a brief interview, Sanford indicated he wasn't familiar with all three of the robberies, but such crimes are "always troubling." (Sanchez and 14th, the site of one of the incidents, is still under the jurisdiction of Northern police station.)

Sanford, who said a plainclothes officer and a team of investigators are doing surveillance of the Duboce Triangle area, called the Duboce Triangle Neighborhood Association "very engaging" and said the group has been "quickly feeding" police information about issues there.

Asked about the robberies, DTNA President David Troup, a gay man who's lived in the neighborhood since 2001, said, "I can't say that's completely new."

"We've had occasional episodes like that throughout the last decade or so," Troup said. However, "it feels like there are more lately."

Troup said DTNA's main concern with incidents in the area is "the perceived uptick in violent crime" stemming from the deaths of Bryan "Feather" Higgins, 31, a gay man who died after he was attacked at Church and Duboce streets last August, and Michael Marquez, 22, who was fatally shot during a robbery at Noe and Henry streets in November.

No arrests have been reported in either incident. (Higgins died after his family took him off life support, and the medical examiner's office hasn't released the cause of his death.)

"In my memory, we haven't ever had two people killed in our streets in one year," Troup said.

A number of less serious incidents such as vehicle break-ins and "people feeling harassed by street people" have also created "the impression that crime in the neighborhood is up," Troup said. Police recently caught someone who had allegedly been breaking in to cars, so "that may put those to bed for a while," he said.

"So far," Troup said he's "really impressed" with Sanford and "his desire to have a really strong relationship with the neighborhoods that he serves." He's seen the captain three times in his first month leading Park Station, "which is pretty extraordinary considering all the things on his plate," Troup said.

Sanford said the transition under the new district boundaries should "take effect somewhere in June or July."

He said whether he'll get more officers in his district is contingent on what Chief Greg Suhr decides is needed across the city. He anticipates "somewhere in the area of six additional officers" in his station.

Anyone with information in the Duboce Triangle cases may contact police anonymously at (415) 575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411. Type SFPD in the subject line.