1 dead, 2 hurt in Castro district shootings

(06-28) 04:00 PDT San Francisco -- A personal dispute apparently boiled over into deadly violence in the Castro district late Saturday when a 19-year-old man shot three people during gay Pride weekend celebrations, scattering hundreds of horrified revelers.

Stephen Powell, 19, was shot up to four times in the chest and was pronounced dead early Sunday morning at San Francisco General Hospital, according to the San Francisco Medical Examiner's office and city officials.

After the shots rang out on the corner of Market and Castro streets about 11:30 p.m., some in the surrounding crowd of hundreds began throwing bottles, witnesses told police. Officers in riot gear responded to the scene within minutes, quelled the fracas, and arrested a 19-year-old man on suspicion of pulling the trigger.

Police recovered a handgun they believe was used in the attack, and as they continue their investigation they are inquiring about the possibility of another assailant, officials said.

"This was definitely not a hate crime," said Officer Phil Gordon. "We think they (the shooter and Powell) knew each other."

The other two victims in the attack, a 19-year-old woman and a 29-year-old man, were both hit in the leg and are expected to recover from their injuries, officials said.

Supervisor Bevan Dufty, who was in the Castro Saturday and came upon the crime scene just after the gunfire, said the two were bystanders unrelated to the apparent dispute between the alleged shooter and Powell. They were hit by accident, he said.

"This may not have been a hate crime, but this was extremely unfortunate and tragic on the part of Mr. Powell's family," said Dufty, who saw the victim crumpled in front of the Pottery Barn store as paramedics treated him. He said he hoped the incident would not reflect badly on "the wonderful work the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence have done to sponsor the 'Pink Saturday' party each year in the Castro."

The Sisters organization released a statement saying its members were "stunned and deeply saddened to learn of the senseless act of gun violence. ... Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families."

Powell was once a promising basketball player at the Stuart Hall Catholic high school, a city official who requested anonymity said. It wasn't clear what triggered the deadly encounter.

Dejauna Joseph owns the RC gas station across the street from where the attack happened, and said it appeared to break out in the midst of a crowd of young people milling around the intersection of Market and Castro, near a Chevron gas station.

"I heard shots, and then you saw all kinds of people running away from the Chevron area," Joseph, 33, said Sunday. "I told my employees and my family to stay inside."

She said it's not uncommon for her corner of the Castro to become edgy late on Saturday nights, Pride Week or not.

The outburst marred what had otherwise been a fairly normal evening of revelry in the Castro as part of the city's two-day San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Parade and Celebration. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Pride Parade, which filled Market Street with hundreds of thousands of people Sunday.

Tony Winnicker, Mayor Gavin Newsom's spokesperson, called the shootings "a tragic incident" and "cause for serious concern," but said at this stage of the investigation it was not changing the mayor's attitude toward the traditionally lively party atmosphere in the Castro on Pride evenings. The shootings of nine people on Halloween night in the Castro in 2006 caused city leaders to cancel officially sanctioned street celebrations in the district on Halloween evenings every year since.

"Certainly as the investigation is concluded we'll see what lessons we can learn from this and other events about security and response," Winnicker said. "The police response in this case was swift and well coordinated."

He noted that violent incidents are rare at gay Pride events, and this appears to be the most serious one in recent memory.

"We don't want to be alarmist without any conclusions about one of the city's greatest celebrations with a historically strong record of safety," he said.

E-mail the writers at kfagan@sfchronicle.com and dbaker@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page C - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle