An Urban Alchemy worker was injured Friday afternoon near UC Law San Francisco’s Tenderloin campus when a BB gun pellet grazed his neck, a spokesperson for the nonprofit said.
The worker, identified by Urban Alchemy as Kyle Frank, was standing near another person and was almost done with his shift when he was injured, spokesperson Jess Montejano said.
Montejano said he reviewed video of the incident.
“Our practitioner, Kyle Frank, was standing there, almost done with his shift, when this happened,” Montejano said. “He was standing next to another individual when a BB gun pellet grazed his neck. Our team responded quickly.”
UC Law San Francisco’s director of safety and emergency preparedness, Noah Skinner, described the incident as a “suspicious injury incident” in a campus-wide email obtained by Mission Local, which first reported the incident.
Skinner wrote that investigators believed the injury may have been caused by a BB gun, pellet gun or similar object.
Frank was conscious as emergency responders wheeled him from the university’s Cotchett Law Center into an ambulance, Montejano said.
Officers were dispatched at 3:21 p.m. to Breen Place and McAllister Street after a report of a shooting, according to a police dispatch log.
Frank’s medical condition was not immediately available.
“Our practitioners put their lives on the line every single day,” Montejano said. “It’s unfortunate that anyone experiences violence. Kyle has been an exemplary employee. He shows up every single day to make sure the Tenderloin is safe and welcoming. We wish him a speedy recovery. We’re working with law enforcement.”
The incident was reported near UC Law SF’s Cotchett Law Center, which is part of the school’s campus near the Tenderloin and Civic Center. No arrests have been announced and police did not release any information about a suspect.
Urban Alchemy is a San Francisco-based nonprofit whose workers are deployed in public spaces to de-escalate conflicts, connect people with services and address street conditions. Its workers are a frequent presence in the Tenderloin, Mid-Market and other San Francisco neighborhoods.
The incident comes less than a year after Joey Alexander, an Urban Alchemy worker, was fatally shot outside San Francisco’s Main Library. Urban Alchemy leaders said Alexander had asked a man to stop using drugs in public before he was shot. San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins charged Edmund Bowen with murder after the shooting.