Emotion runs high at SFPD town hall discussing Mario Woods' shooting death

SAN FRANCISCO (KTVU) - Emotions ran high at a town-hall meeting Friday night as San Francisco's Police Chief Greg Suhr addressed residents of the Bayview District about Wednesday's officer-involved shooting death of 26-year-old Mario Woods.

Roughly 300 people gathered wanting to hear details, explanation, and to vent their frustrations of the death at the hands of five police officers who have since been placed on administrative leave. 

"You could have shot the guy in the leg," said one man in the crowd. There were heated exchanges and raw emotion and anger expressed at the meeting. One by one, members of the crowd voiced their concerns.

"I don't care if he's black or white, red or yellow. There ain't no reason to shoot nobody 16 times and he ain't got nothing but a knife," said one angry resident.

"This is what I have. The other four officers fired in defense of that officer," said Suhr. It was with that statement that the crowd no longer wanted to hear what the chief had to say.

Multiple times throughout the night members of the community let out their anger and frustration. At times the meeting became confrontational. There was even a heated encounter between one man and San Francisco Police Commissioner Joe Marshall.

"People got to vent. People are hurting and they should be," Marshall said.

"They can come out and use that kind of excessive force on one man. Where they can have 28 bullets put in him. That's way beyond restraining him. That's eliminating his life," said another member of the crowd.

Police have not stated how many times Woods was shot. However, they did show a picture of the 8-inch kitchen knife Woods had at the scene. Officers also showed still pictures taken from the video that went viral of the fatal shooting.

Christian Hernandez witnessed the incident and recorded another angle of the shooting.

"When I heard the shots I started to panic to be honest. A lot of people in my neighborhood are really upset.

They are mad at what happened," said Hernandez.

In the Bayview District, a memorial for Woods quietly grows in stark comparison from the auditorium where his death was discussed.

One woman asked the chief to resign. The chief said no and will continue to update residents as more information comes out about the ongoing investigation.