Medical Examiner: Bayview Shooting Victim May Have Died From Self-Inflicted Wound

Update 6:08 p.m.

KQED reporter Kelly Wilkinson just got off the phone with San Francisco Police Sergeant Michael Andraychak. According to Sergeant Andraychak, neither the fatal .380-caliber bullet, nor the similar bullet found in Mr. Harding's pocket can be matched to the gun police recovered following last Saturday's incident, a .45-caliber pistol.

Original Post:

SAN FRANCISCO (Bay City News)

A man who was thought to have died from an officer-involved shooting in San Francisco last weekend appears instead to have been killed by a self-inflicted gunshot wound, investigators revealed.

Kenneth Harding Jr., a 19-year-old Seattle resident, allegedly ran from officers who had attempted to detain him Saturday for fare evasion at a San Francisco Municipal Railway light-rail stop at Third Street and Palou
Avenue.

Police had originally said Harding had turned and fired at the officers, who returned fire and fatally struck him.

However, the bullet believed to have killed Harding was removed from his head by the medical examiner, who discovered it was a .380-caliber bullet, which is not consistent with the service ammunition used by San Francisco police.

Police said they also found an unused .380-caliber bullet in the right jacket pocket of Harding.

The shooting has triggered several protests around the city since last weekend, including one Tuesday that led to 45 people being arrested.

More from Marisa Lagos of the Chronicle here.