Crime Scenes

Updated: Nightclub Violence Results in Homicide at Temple in SoMa

Photo: Bunrab

That Saturday-night stabbing we mentioned yesterday appears to have either been mis-located on the 500 block of 4th Street, or was in addition to two separate incidents that the Examiner now places at Temple nightclub on Howard between First and Second Streets. In one incident, two men were stabbed multiple times with broken bottles during a brawl outside the club. In another incident inside the club a half hour earlier, which may not have been connected, UCSF medical school student Joe Hernandez, age 30, was beaten unconscious and was found by police lying on the floor around 1:20 a.m. Hernandez is not expected to survive his injuries, and according to police is “being kept alive to harvest tissue.” Update: Hernandez was taken off life support on Tuesday, and the Entertainment Commission has issued an order that Temple impose tighter security, and stop serving beer in bottles on weekends. [Chron]

The Entertainment Commission, which came under fire last year following several incidents of nightclub violence, cautions that the buddha-filled, ‘Zen’-themed Temple has not been a problem in the past, and has never been cited for anything.

The victims in the bottle-stabbing incident, as well as a second injured victim in the earlier brawl, are all expected to survive. Up to six suspects are still being sought in connection with the fights, all of them Asian males, mostly in their 20s.

In related news, Jelly’s nightclub, which has faced eviction since a deadly shooting there last summer, is suing the city over what it calls “retaliation” for some complaints regarding a leaky, bayside sewer pipe. They say the eviction was a way for the city to protect its now successful bid to host the America’s Cup race.


Violence at Temple nightclub a rarity for ‘Zen’ hot spot
[Examiner]
Earlier: Another Nightclub Shooting Rounds Out the Year [Grub Street]

Updated: Nightclub Violence Results in Homicide at Temple in SoMa