San Francisco police shot a dog, then its owner, after confronting the pair on a busy stretch of Market Street near Union Square on Sunday afternoon, witnesses said.
The man and the dog were shot around 4:30 p.m. near Market and O’Farrell streets, San Francisco fire officials said, adding that the dog reportedly bit an officer in the leg.
Both the man and the dog were expected to survive, fire Lt. Marinao Elias said. Paramedics transported the man to a hospital, and animal control officers took the dog to the agency’s shelter. The dog – a male German shepherd husky mix –  suffered a gunshot wound to his right front leg, an injury a veterinarian treated, animal control officials said.
Elias said the injured officer declined treatment at a hospital.
The German shepherd husky mix had been barking at a pedestrian around Market and Fourth streets at 4:25 p.m. when the woman asked for police assistance keeping him away, said Kristy Palmore, who witnessed the incident. The dog’s owner, an apparently homeless man, became “a little confrontational” when questioned by police, who tried to detain him, she said.
The dog continued barking and moved toward the officers, who shot him in the right front leg, said Palmore, adding that she didn’t think the dog posed a threat to police. Both the dog and the man ran from the officers, who shot the man in the left leg, she said.
San Francisco police tend to a man they had shot after a chase Sunday afternoon. (Courtesy of Lauren Belfer)
The man, who appeared to be in his late 30s or early 40s, was taken by ambulance to a hospital. Neither the man nor the dog appeared to be severely injured, Palmore said.
Video posted on the Citizen app showed shoppers and other onlookers standing behind yellow crime tape, some of them recording on their cellphones, as officers secured the area. Police asked people to avoid the area around Market and O’Farrell streets while emergency crews were on the scene, and Muni buses were advised to reroute.
Street performer Andrew Byrne, 48, was banging his drums on Market Street when the two shots burst out just behind him. He saw the dog running west on Market, right after he saw the victim on the ground with officers swarming around him.
“That was the fastest police response I’ve ever seen,” said Byrne, who has been drumming on Market Street for 15 years. He said the shooting startled him like nothing else he’s seen on Market.
Byrne kept drumming briefly while police tended to the victim about 15 feet away, and a large group of people yelled at the officers to get away from the man. More police units arrived, and they shoved the crowd back, he said.
“Everything was going nice, then I heard these two gunshots and I saw the German shepherd limping toward me with a bullet wound in his right leg,” Byrne said. “It was awful.”
Former Chronicle staff writer Kevin Fagan contributed to this report.
This article originally published at S.F. police shoot dog, then owner, on busy downtown street.