A recent pair of midweek shootings in one of downtown San Diego’s most popular tourist spots caught residents and visitors by surprise.
Some people saw the violence in Little Italy as a “one-off.” Others canvassed by The San Diego Sun along the nearby Embarcadero weighed in negatively on overall safety in other parts of the city.
On the morning of Wednesday, November 13, two San Diegans were shot and killed in a car on Union Street, two blocks from the San Diego County Courthouse. Less than an hour later, San Diego police officers got into a shooting match with the gunman near The Crack Shack restaurant on Kettner Boulevard.
A Harbor Police officer was shot in the gun battle and is recovering. The alleged shooter was later pronounced dead, according to news reports.
Roughly a half dozen Little Italy streets were blocked off for most of the day, forcing several restaurants and shops to temporarily close.
Chloe Sharp is a downtown resident who says feelings of safety vary from neighborhood to neighborhood.
“I feel like certain parts are not as safe as others,” Sharp, 23, says. “I’ve heard that around Petco Park it’s not as safe. Little Italy has been safer, except for what happened yesterday – so now I don’t really know.”
Thomas Kimball works in East Village, not far from Petco Park.
“I have night shifts [by the shipyards], and I’ve heard and seen some pretty messed up stuff,” Kimball says. “Gunshots, I’ve heard a couple times. [Homeless people yelling and screaming], usually at night. You never know what could happen, you know? It just depends on how busy it is and how many people there are.”
Carter Andres grew up in downtown San Diego but now lives in East County. He believes the Little Italy shootings were a one-off.
“I don’t know the details, but one thing’s for sure – I’ve had to increase my awareness of what’s around me,” Andres, 34, says. “Today, I’m doing photography, but I got one earbud in…and the other earbud is out because I’m trying to be protective of myself and people who are around me. You never know what might happen.”
Downtown resident Randi Turito, 55, says she feels safer during the day than at night.
Ha Long, 30, also an urban resident, concurs.
“Daytime is probably safer than at nighttime,” Long says. “Nighttime, if we’re browsing more in towards the Gaslamp area, is not so safe because of the high homeless population over there. Other than that, I feel fairly safe.”
One visitor told The Sun that San Diego feels safer than her hometown.
“Sometimes, I feel a lot safer [in downtown San Diego] than I do in my own city,” National City resident Violet Balough, 62, says. “For a while, not very many people wanted to go around because of the cars that would go cruising there.” SDSun
