Violent thug shot Good Samaritan woman who tried to stop him beating girlfriend on San Francisco street - prosecutors
A violent thug under court supervision, accused of shooting a female good samaritan several times in the chest after she intervened to stop him beating his girlfriend on a street in San Francisco’s Mission district, will appear in court this morning for a preliminary hearing.
Prosecutors say Valentino Johnson, 52, opened fire at 10:30pm on July 17.
“You don’t know who you’re fucking with,” he allegedly told his victim, moments before drawing a handgun from his waistband, shooting her, then fleeing the scene in his truck.
The woman miraculously survived.
Johnson was picked up by police on August 5 and found, cops say, with a .380 semi-automatic pistol in his waistband – the same caliber of weapon used in the July attack.
“The shooting was unprovoked, deliberate and carried out in a public area resulting in serious bodily injury to the victim, and…a substantial risk of death or injuries to others nearby,” wrote assistant district attorney Rebecca Warren in a motion to detain.
Remarkably, the alleged offense mirrors a 2014 incident in which Johnson, armed with a gun, broke into the Potrero Hill house of a “terrified” woman who was giving refuge to his ex-girlfriend, whom he had threatened to hurt. He shattered a glass patio door with his gun during his intrusion.
A week later he was arrested with a PT 92 Taurus semi-automatic pistol and subsequently convicted by a federal jury of being a felon in possession of a firearm and given an eight-year sentence.
It was analysis of that gun which led investigators to conclude it was the same weapon used by Johnson’s brother, Joseph, when he shot to death Dwany Jeffers-Spurell, aka Dwayne Jeffers, on Camp Street in the small hours of September 5 2011. The 45-year-old victim was shot multiple times including in the head.
Joseph Johnson was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment.
Valentino Johnson’s adult convictions include grand theft, assault with a firearm, domestic violence, first-degree robbery and second-degree robbery. His substantial juvenile rap sheet began when, as a ten year old, he came to police attention for battery.
He is on federal supervised release and last appeared before U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria on June 2 2026 when the court heard that, although he was continuing to take methamphetamine, he had received “great praise” from his therapist. He was allowed to remain out of custody.
This is but the latest apparent instance of Johnson failing to stay crime-free and federal probation officials failing to keep him on a short-enough leash to prevent horrifying violence.
Johnson, who has pleaded ‘not guilty’ to assault with a gun and a slew of felony firearm offenses, will appear today at San Francisco’s Hall of Justice for a preliminary hearing – at which a judge will determine whether the evidence is sufficient to send him to trial.
Judge Dawn Payne earlier granted prosecutors’ request to keep him detained without bail.
The case continues.
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