San Francisco, CA
San Francisco teenagers talk openly about gun violence among their peers
The Bay Area has experienced a number of shootings where the suspected shooter were all young people. In November, gunfire rang out at Oakland’s Skyline High School and San Jose’s Westfield Mall and Burton High in San Francisco in December.
NBC Bay Area sat down with a group of young people in San Francisco, both survivors and perpetrators to ask them what was driving this gun violence amongst youth, the impact of social media when it comes to guns and what can be done.
High school teenagers, Ziggy Brown, Xavier Ballard, Terronnie Fields and Keenan Erwin, have attended programs at San Francisco’s United Playaz, a violence and prevention youth development program.
The 18-year-old Erwin was shot in December at Burton High in the city’s Portola neighborhood. He says there was a dispute with another student and that student shot him. Keenan’s femur was shattered.
“It was just crazy, hearing it happen to people and like not even thinking it could happen to you. What hurts more than that bullet was hearing your mama cry thinking that was her last time. Hearing you, seeing you breathe on this earth and hearing her cry,” he said.
NBC Bay Area asked them about the problem of gun violence amongst youth.
“No matter where you are, you could really just run into the wrong person that day,” Brown said.
“It could be anybody any age because it’s such a problem, like we have kids running around thinking that guns are cool to have,” Ballard said.
Brown and Ballard thought it was cool. In December 2024, the two ended up in juvenile hall for theft, robbing other people with a BB gun at Serramonte Mall. Ballard spent a week in a half in juvie. Ziggy three weeks.
“It’s such a bad mistake and it was so like dumb,” Ballard said.
Brown talked about a question his lawyer asked him.
“He asked me, ‘Why did you do that? He’s like, he spoke real to me. He’s like, Why did you do that dumb** s***? You’re speaking to me with intelligence. Why did you do that?’ I told him I didn’t love myself. I didn’t care about myself enough,” he said.
In 2021, gun violence replaced car crashes as the leading cause of death for children in the U.S. and has remained the leading killer, disporportionately affecting communities of color.
Social media is also having an impact on them.
“I feel like the social media is like it’s the humiliation part,” Ballard said. “It makes it to where people want to prove a point. Cause like for example, if somebody were to get like beat up or something and they seen it on the internet, then it’s like, okay, now I have to like get back.”
There is no data directly linking social media to crime, but research suggests social media is an accelerant. Erin Grinshteyn, an associate dean and professor at the University of San Francisco, studies gun violence as a public health issue.
“Social media has the capacity to disseminate gun violence information far more broadly than if you’re just exposed within your specific community,” Grinshteyn said. “What we’re seeing is that people who are exposed to gun violence in their community have negative mental health consequences. I think often times people think that a gun will make them safer, and all the research shows that having access to a firearm puts you in far more danger.”
A California sea lion pup found last week on a San Francisco street corner is malnourished but “active and quite feisty,” The Marine Mammal Center said Monday.
The sea lion, believed to be about 10 months old, had apparently wandered into city’s Outer Sunset neighborhood and was discovered early Thursday morning, authorities said.
The pup was spotted near 48th and Irving Streets, one block from Ocean Beach and Sunset Dunes park. A trained responder from the Marine Mammal Center was joined by San Francisco park rangers and police officers to safely corral the pup, now named ‘Irving’, into a carrier crate.
Dubbed ‘Irving’ by his rescuers, Irving weighed in at 40 pounds and is considered malnourished, the Marine Mammal Center said.
“The sea lion is active and quite feisty which is a positive initial sign in terms of general behavior,” the center said in a news release on Monday.
During an exam by veterinarians, a series of blood samples were also taken to determine whether there’s any underlying ailment.
Irving is being tube fed a fish smoothie blend two times per day to boost hydration and weight; offers of whole herring will also begin shortly.
The quick actions by police, recreation and parks staff and Ocean Avenue Animal Hospital gave the young sea lion a second chance at life, said Lauren Campbell, animal husbandry manager at The Marine Mammal Center.
“As a roughly 10-month-old pup in his first year of learning how to forage on his own, this animal has a long road to recovery due to his severe malnutrition,” Campbell said. “We are hopeful that in the coming weeks with continued specialized care that this pup starts to make positive strides toward recovery and release.”
Irving will be held in the Center’s Intensive Quarantine Unit until clearing medical protocols, before likely being transferred this week to a traditional rehabilitation pool pen. A long-term prognosis and potential release timeline are not currently known.
After Sunday’s 3-0 loss to the Washington Nationals, the San Francisco Giants headed back to the West Coast. They’re going back to the Bay Area, too.
The Giants have a date with the Los Angeles Dodgers for a three-game series at Oracle Park starting Tuesday night.
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So, San Francisco probably wanted to get out of Washington, D.C., with a win. That didn’t happen at Nationals Park on Sunday afternoon.
Nationals reliever Andrew Alvarez, the third pitcher used by the team on Sunday, picked up the victory with 4 1/3 innings of work. Giants starter Robbie Ray absorbed the loss, falling to 2-3 this season.
Ray worked six innings, giving up seven hits, three runs (all earned), walking one, and striking out seven Nationals. If the Giants’ offense had found a way to tack on some runs, then Ray’s outing wouldn’t have looked so bad.
The Giants’ bats, though, had eight hits. The big number for Giants manager Tony Vitello to look at in the box score after this one was, well, pretty big. San Francisco left 10 runners on base on Sunday, going 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position. This indicates that San Francisco had plenty of opportunities to score some runs.
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They just didn’t get the job done.
Let’s go to the bottom of the fifth with the Giants and Nationals in a scoreless tie. With nobody out, the Nationals’ Keibert Ruiz connected for his third double this season. Nasim Nuñez scored to put Washington up 1-0.
With one out, Curtis Mead sent a Ray pitch over the left-field wall, a two-run blast that gave the Nationals a 3-0 lead.
San Francisco had a scoring threat in the top of the eighth inning. With runners at first and second base and nobody out, Casey Schmitt grounded into a double play. Matt Chapman, who was on second base, went to third. But the Giants were unable to bring him home.
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Rafael Devers and Drew Gilbert went 2-for-4 at the plate for the Giants, producing half of the Giants’ hits.
The Giants fall to 9-13 this season, sitting in fourth place in the National League West Division. The Nationals’ record goes to 10-12, good enough for third place in the National League East Division.
All eyes now turn toward Oracle on Tuesday night. It’ll be a chance for two longtime rivals to renew their rivalry.
Baseball fans know that the Giants-Dodgers matchups usually are must-see TV.
That’s probably going to be the case once again as Giants fans watch their team battle the Dodgers. Those lucky to have tickets to the three-game series at Oracle Park will show up in Giants colors, hoping to see Los Angeles head back to Southern California with either a series loss or a Giants’ sweep.
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Buckle up, Giants fans. It’s about to get rowdy at Oracle Park.
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