San Francisco city leaders on Thursday offered condolences to the families and communities devastated by the recent mass shootings in Half Moon Bay and Monterey Park and addressed safety concerns ahead of upcoming Lunar New Year celebrations.
The leaders' event was planned before the two recent mass shootings, but it took on added significance in light of the killings.
Mayor London Breed led the city's assembled delegation in acknowledging the pair of tragedies.
"After what we saw on television, what's happened in Monterey Park, what's happened in Half Moon Bay, it has definitely rocked this community here," she said.
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The event was supposed to detail efforts to provide support to victims of hate crimes in San Francisco and coordinate prosecutions of perpetrators.
Just this week video surfaced of what looks like an unprovoked attack on a 78-year-old man as he walked along an alley in the South of Market district.
But because of the two mass shootings, city leaders also tried to assure people that they're doing everything possible to ensure ongoing Lunar New Year celebrations are safe.
Police Chief Bill Scott said the department will have all hands on deck for the city's Lunar New Year parade next weekend.
"It's not only the event, but it's the after effects that make people not want to do anything," he said. "We have to be more resilient than that. We have to mourn our losses and take care of the trauma and all of that, but we have to live our lives. We have to keep going."
Following the recent shootings, police have stepped up foot patrols through Chinatown to help ease safety concerns.
Scott said beat officers in Chinatown have been making extra efforts to make deeper connections and build trust in the community.
"Often times people would rather call them directly than call 911, which I don't advise that, but if that's the way you communicate, we'll take it," Scott said.
San Francisco City Attorney David Chu said he will be one of the many participating in the upcoming Lunar New Year parade. He said he's confident the police department will help make the event as safe as possible.
He said he's also recently designated one of his staff attorneys to focus on enforcing red flag laws.
"If you know of someone who is a danger to himself or to others, who is in the possession of a firearm, our office, we can actually petition a civil court to remove their firearms," he said.
Chu said San Diego County has led the way with this strategy and has removed hundreds of weapons from potentially dangerous people.
