A San Francisco road ambassador who turned his life round after 23 years in jail was shot useless by a person he’d requested to cease utilizing medication exterior of a public library, in response to officers and colleagues.
Joey Alexander, who labored for non-profit City Alchemy, confronted somebody for utilizing medication close to kids exterior the Essential Department of the San Francisco Public Library on Friday when the person pulled out a shotgun and blasted him, the group’s spokesperson Jess Montejano mentioned.
The 60-year-old father of two died from his wounds on Tuesday.
“That was his beat, in entrance of the principle library. He confirmed as much as work each day when it was his shift,” Montejano instructed reporters on Wednesday, KRON reported.
When Alexander requested the person to cease, the person yelled “”f–ok City Alchemy,’ pulled out a shotgun out of his bag and shot him within the torso space,” she mentioned.
Edmund Bowen, 42, was arrested and booked on suspicion of murder, in response to the San Francisco Police Division. Prosecutors are more likely to pursue a homicide cost earlier than the tip of the week, in response to KTVU.
City Alchemy, which launched in 2018, is contracted with San Francisco and sends its staff, most of whom have been previously incarcerated, into among the metropolis’s roughest neighborhoods to discourage crime and drug use on the streets.
Alexander served 23 years in jail over a gang-related murder, his brother instructed the San Francisco Chronicle.
He walked out of San Quentin just a few days after Christmas 2022 and had labored as an City Alchemy ambassador for 2 years.
“He needed to make proper what he’d achieved in his previous,” the brother, Marvin Alexander, instructed KTVU. “No matter he was doing, it was the suitable factor. He beloved his job, I do know that. He beloved his job.”
Alexander was at the least the third City Alchemy worker shot on the job, in response to the Chronicle.
“It’s a tight-knit workforce. There’s undoubtedly some concern amongst city alchemy practitioners proper now. It’s very simple to see themselves in Mr. Alexander,” Montejano mentioned.
Alexander leaves behind two sons.
“Our ambassadors dedicate their lives to the work of serving to these on the road. Joey Alexander gave his life for it,” Mayor Daniel Lurie wrote on X Wednesday.