Shot in the arm for public safety as felon shoots himself in the leg
A felon accused of shooting and seriously wounding a man in an unprovoked broad daylight attack, who began his assault by shooting himself in the leg, will appear before a San Francisco judge today to hear if he will win a diversion to ‘drug court’.
Prosecutors say Jonathan Contreras drove up to his victim, who was “minding his own business”, as he walked out of Amigos Market on Ellis Street with his girlfriend at 5:00pm on May 24 2025.
“Are you a scrap?” Contreras is said to have asked – using an insulting term for members of the Hispanic Sureno criminal gang – after which he immediately offered the man violence.
Contreras pulled a .38 revolver and, in the process, shot himself in his own right thigh. His victim, perhaps understandably, couldn’t stop himself from laughing, which prompted an injured Contreras to recover his poise and shoot his adversary multiple times in the abdomen and pelvis.
One bullet hit the grocery store and was found lodged in a shelf inside.
“[H]e’s so eager to pull the trigger at people who he doesn’t like that he will shoot himself in his haste to do so.”
Prosecutor John Roman
“[The] defendant,” wrote assistant district attorney John Roman, “for no reason at all except that which can be reasonably inferred was for the benefit of a criminal street gang, shot two people.”
“One of them was himself, which demonstrates that he’s so eager to pull the trigger at people who he doesn’t like that he will shoot himself in his haste to do so.”
A court was earlier told that Contreras, 33, spent five days in hospital recovering from surgery to insert a metal plate in his leg. He now uses a wheelchair in jail and will require physical therapy.
Contreras’ attorney Pamela Herzig said that her client was acting in self defense when he opened fire. He is also a chronic alcoholic who was drunk at the time of the attack, she explained.
Adding to Contreras’ woes was his failed bid last month to disqualify Judge Gerardo Sandoval from hearing his case which prompted the judge to issue an eight page ruling in which he denied that he was biased against or prejudiced toward his attorney Pamela Herzig.
Herzig had said Sandoval should recuse himself because he had demonstrated bias and lack of respect toward her in other cases.
Contreras has a previous felony conviction for selling drugs and a misdemeanor conviction for misreporting information on a firearms application.
At today’s hearing Contreras will hear the outcome of a report that was ordered to assess his suitability for ‘drug court’.
One of San Francisco’s ‘collaborative courts’, drug court, per its website, “links non-violent offenders who have substance use disorders to outpatient and/or residential treatment intended to support a life free from substance use.”
Contreras has pleaded not guilty to seven felony firearms offenses.
The case continues.
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