Reports: Armed man killed in Mission possibly tied to earlier robbery, suicidal

Police also have Valencia at Cesar Chavez shut. pic.twitter.com/0P8goLrzC8

— Jonah Owen Lamb (@jonahowenlamb) November 12, 2015

More details have emerged about the armed man who was shot and killed by police Wednesday on a construction site at St. Luke’s Hospital including that he was a 25-year-old San Jose resident possibly tied to an earlier robbery and suicidal.

The man, identified by the San Francisco Medical Examiner’s Office as Javier Lopez Garcia, is believed to have held up a Big 5 Sporting Goods store in San Bruno just minutes before the incident at St. Luke’s, stealing a shotgun and ammunition, said San Francisco Police Department spokeswoman Grace Gatpandan. Witnesses first spotted Garcia at the Mission District hospital construction site around 4:15 p.m., and officers arrived to hear someone firing shots.

Armed with multiple weapons, Garcia was spotted standing atop a construction elevator, pointing a gun at the hospital, Gatpandan said. When Garcia directed the gun at police below, three officers opened fire, killing him, she said.

The San Francisco Chronicle is now reporting that the man may have been suicidal, making statements about dying at both the scene in the Mission and at the San Bruno store. From the Chronicle’s article:

Investigators said that Lopez Garcia had made statements in both San Bruno and San Francisco indicating he climbed to his deadly perch next to the Mission District hospital Wednesday with a death wish.

“I’m ready to die. Today will be the day I die,” Lopez Garcia said at the scene, according to officials.

Lopez Garcia is believed to have robbed the Big 5 Sporting Goods Wednesday and made statements to the clerks at the store indicating he was suicidal, according to police.

“I’m not afraid to get shot,” Lopez Garcia is alleged to have said, according to Lt. Tim Mahon, a spokesman with the San Bruno Police Department.

Such a sad and scary story. Glad to hear no one else was hurt.