An out-of-towner who was robbed of camera equipment by a group of men in San Francisco’s Nob Hill neighborhood on Tuesday is the latest camera-toting tourist to be targeted in the city.
At about 2 p.m. Tuesday, a tourist, described by police as a man in his 50s, was walking in the 1400 block of Mason Street near Broadway. He was walking down the street as a group of men approached in the opposite direction. As he passed the group of men, they grabbed him and his camera, police said.
The suspects, described as three men between 18 and 20 years old, attacked and robbed the man.
One suspect punched him in the face while another took his camera and lens, police said.
The suspects fled east on Broadway with the man’s camera equipment toward a car that was apparently waiting for them.
The car, described as a white sedan, fled the scene, according to officers.
Police said the victim suffered a small cut to his cheek and was treated by medics at the scene.
No suspects have been arrested and the incident remains under investigation.
Another man was robbed of a camera and pepper-sprayed nearby at Francisco and Hyde streets at about 12:20 p.m. Friday. The 28-year-old victim struggled over the camera but eventually had it wrested away by a suspect who jumped into a waiting vehicle.
That robbery happened a few blocks from the famous crooked section of Lombard Street, where two San Francisco men allegedly shot a tourist in the shoulder while robbing him of his camera in broad daylight, police said.
That tourist ran after the suspects in an attempt to get his equipment back. Police arrested the two suspects in Oakland after they attempted to evade police via the Bay Bridge.
Hannah Albarazi, Bay City News
