Man heads to trial for role in “twenty-to-thirty”-round SF gunfight
A felon who fired his own gun amidst a “twenty to thirty”-round gunfight next to a student apartment block on the edge of San Francisco’s Tenderloin is heading to trial after a preliminary hearing concluded today.
Hakim Tookes, armed with a weapon equipped with an extended magazine, exchanged fire with two others near the intersection of Mason and Turk streets on the evening of May 30 this year. Bullets shattered the windshield and drivers’ side window of his own car during the incident.
Superior Court Judge Michael Rhoads held him to answer on three felony firearms charges: being a felon in possession of a firearm, carrying a concealed firearm, and possessing a loaded firearm.
Last year he appeared in court charged with an identical roster of gun offenses.
He remains out of custody and will appear next in Department 22 on December 28.
SFPD Officer James Shaini told the court police were notified by “multiple callers regarding shots fired…gunshots being heard” on Mason Street near Turk Street on the late evening of May 30 2023.
The court heard that security camera footage from the Found Study student residences on Turk Street showed the defendant – described by Shaini as “a heavyset black male wearing a jacket with patches on it” – opening fire, getting into a black Honda and driving off. The video, he said, also showed glass shattering after the defendant’s Honda was apparently hit by bullets.
The defendant, it was said, got into his damaged car and drove away. Two others – those who shot at the defendant – could be seen returning to their sedan and driving off west.
SFPD Officer Michael Coss testified that he was initially told by dispatch that shots had been fired “approximately ten times” but that this was soon revised to “twenty-to-thirty” times. He located the abandoned black Honda vehicle near the junction of O’Farrell and Scott streets.
“I saw the gunshot bullet holes through both the windshield and the drivers’ side window,” he said.
He and fellow officers set up covert surveillance of the vehicle and, later that night, Tookes pulled up alongside the Honda in another vehicle – a blue Kia Rio. He was detained at gunpoint by the officers. Officer found a key fob which opened the Honda, which the defendant had dropped, while their search of the Kia uncovered a gun under the driver’s seat.
SFPD Sergeant Joseph Reavey testified that Tookes later told him that “he had discharged a firearm in defense of him and his friends…and that the firearm…in the Blue Kia…belonged to him.”
“He stated that there would more than likely be gunshot residue on his hands,” Reavey added.
Tookes went on to say, said Reavey, that “he had been the victim of gun violence before and that the gun was for his own self-protection.”
The court heard that the gun found was loaded and equipped with an extended magazine.
“I find the evidence presented is satisfactory to support the belief as to counts one through three,” said Judge Michael Rhoads this afternoon in Department 11 of San Francisco Superior Court.
He ordered the defendant ‘held to answer’ on the three counts and directed that he next appear in Department 22 on December 28 2023. Tookes remains out of custody, on home detention, although the judge, noting “seven consecutive” reports on his compliance, removed ACM check in requirements.
A defense bid to suppress the gun evidence found in the search of the Kia – because, they said, there was no probable cause to detain the defendant when he arrived back at the Honda – was rejected although the issue was characterized by the court as “quite close” and “a difficult issue”.
Court records show Tookes appeared last year in court of an identical set of weapons charges. He has also appeared before San Francisco judges on a range of auto theft and burglary matters.
The case continues.
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