By Tom Abate
San Francisco Chronicle
SAN FRANCISCO — A San Francisco police officer fatally shot a man in his room at a residential hotel Sunday morning after responding to a noise complaint and going to the room with a building manager, authorities said.
The resident “presented a weapon,” the Police Department said in a press release, causing the officer to fear for his or her life and fire.
The incident, which occurred shortly after 11 a.m. at the Granada Hotel at 1000 Sutter St., is the first time this year that a San Francisco police officer has fatally shot a subject, said Sgt. Troy Dangerfield, a department spokesman.
Police declined to identify the officer. The city medical examiner’s office would not name the man who was killed pending notification of relatives.
But longtime Granada Hotel resident Paul Vosper identified him as Michael Lee, a former Michigan resident in his early 40s who had been living for five years in the hotel, which rents rooms week-to-week and month-to-month.
“It’s a real tragedy,” said Vosper, who said he knew Lee from sharing meals and small talk in the hotel’s cafeteria and common rooms. He said he heard several loud gunshots on Sunday.
Police provided few details of the shooting, saying only that it happened when the officer went to the room and made contact with the resident.
As is standard in officer-involved fatalities, it is being investigated by homicide detectives as well as police internal affairs, city prosecutors and the Office of Citizen Complaints.
Copyright 2010 San Francisco Chronicle