SAN FRANCISCO — A motorist in a sport utility vehicle went on a hit-and-run rampage Tuesday, targeting pedestrians in a terrifying spree in the Bay Area that killed one person and injured at least 14 others.
San Francisco police captured a suspect, whom they identified as Omeed Aziz Popal, a 29-year-old Fremont man. He was arrested on suspicion of 14 counts of attempted murder.
"It's being looked at as an intentional act," said Sgt. Neville Gittens, a spokesman for the Police Department. "He was deliberately targeting pedestrians on the street, on the sidewalk, whatever."
Police said the incidents began about noon in Fremont when a suspect driving a Honda SUV mowed down a pedestrian walking in a bike lane on a busy thoroughfare, sped off with a broken windshield and left the victim lying dead in a field.
Less than an hour later, across the bay in San Francisco, a motorist in a Honda SUV began ramming into people in an onslaught that lasted 14 minutes, starting at 12:47 p.m., the time of the first of many 911 calls.
Police said the suspect hit a bicyclist and pedestrians in crosswalks and on sidewalks, striking at 13 locations from near the city's civic center to south of the Presidio. At least 13 people were sent to the hospital, three with what were believed to be serious injuries. The victims range in age from 18 to 78.
"He looked me right in the eye and showed no remorse," said Emanule Gowan, who witnessed the driver run down two pedestrians near his home in the 1800 block of Steiner Street.
Gowan saw the SUV hit a brown Buick and then hit a pedestrian, dragging him.
He "hurt him real bad," Gowan said. "The driver must have hit that man at 40 to 50 miles an hour."
Gowan said he and another man pulled the injured pedestrian out of the street.
A car started to chase the SUV, Gowan said, but the SUV backed up and hit it. Then the SUV circled again and struck another pedestrian.
"I could not believe how he hit this guy," Gowan said. "What I saw today, I could not believe a guy could do this and have no feelings."
Marc Tarasco said he was standing at the reception desk at Salon Neja Cosmetics on Fillmore Street when he saw an SUV race down the sidewalk. "He hit an old lady. I walked out and saw her on the sidewalk. She was bleeding and disoriented."
"It was very frightening," he said. "The police car was out trying to chase him. People were screaming."
