San Francisco officer fired for fatally shooting suspect

SAN FRANCISCO - A rookie San Francisco police officer who was on his fourth day on the job when he fatally shot an unarmed carjacking suspect has been fired.

Police Chief Bill Scott fired officer Chris Samayoa three months after he fatally shot 42-year-old Keita O'Neil, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Tuesday.

O'Neil, who died at a hospital, was suspected of assaulting a California Lottery employee and stealing a van that belongs to the agency on Dec. 1.

Police chased the van and another SUV seen traveling with it to an area of public housing, officials said.

After the brief pursuit with police, O'Neil abandoned the stolen vehicle in the city's Bayview area and started running toward the patrol car occupied by Samayoa and his training officer.

Samayoa's body camera footage shows the officer drawing his pistol from the passenger's seat while the cruiser was still moving. The video then shows him open the side door and fire a single shot through the window as O'Neil runs by in the opposite direction. O'Neil was not armed.

The Police Department confirmed Samayoa was fired but declined comment, saying it was a personnel matter.

Samayoa's firing drew outrage from the city's police union, which said he was fired for doing what he was trained to do.

"This was a needless action as any taken by someone wearing the uniform of our chief," union president, Marty Halloran, wrote in a statement."

The shooting remains under investigation by the department's internal affairs division, the homicide bureau and the San Francisco district attorney's office.

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Information from: San Francisco Chronicle, http://www.sfgate.com