Geriatric felon drew gun in row with ‘community ambassador’ on Tenderloin street – prosecutors
A geriatric felon accused of drawing a gun on a city “community first responder ambassador” after being asked to stop smoking drugs on a Tenderloin sidewalk will appear in court today for a preliminary hearing.
Prosecutors say Clarence Hannibal, 68, had been invited to move by the ambassador shortly before 3:00pm on Friday December 5 out of concern for children who would shortly be leaving a nearby school.
Hannibal decamped to a nearby Burger King on Van Ness Avenue before allegedly storming out to confront his victim, pulling a 9mm Smith & Wesson M&P Shield handgun from his pocket, and threatening the man.
“You think I’m fucking around?” inquired Hannibal, according to the victim.
“The defendant walked into Gladstone Market at 678 Eddy Street and [he] tossed the gun inside a garbage can at the entrance of the store,” wrote assistant district attorney Rebecca Warren in a motion to detain. SFPD officers arrested Hannibal shortly thereafter in the immediate vicinity of the store.
Hannibal’s storied criminal past includes a 1993 San Francisco conviction for assault, a 2000 conviction for battery with serious bodily injury, and a 2008 conviction for drug dealing.
Hannibal earlier pleaded not guilty to six firearm charges.
He remains in custody ahead of his appearance this morning in Department 11 of San Francisco’s Hall of Justice for a preliminary hearing, when a judge will decide if there is sufficient evidence to send the defendant to trial.
The incident comes just two months after an Urban Alchemy ‘street ambassador’, Joey Alexander, was shot dead after reportedly asking a man to stop dealing drugs outside the main branch of the city’s public library.
A top aide to a San Francisco politician was also wounded during the shotgun attack.
In 2023 Urban Alchemy ambassador Darnell Houston was given probation by a federal judge after firing at rivals eight times down a Tenderloin street. Earlier this year Houston was charged with violating his probation conditions after Concord police found a firearm in his home.
The havoc caused by ‘ambassadors’ of all stripes, many of whom are criminals, being used to police armed felons on San Francisco streets does not appear to have dissuaded Mayor Daniel Lurie from investing heavily in the practice.
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