passenger side of the vehicle, move to the sidewalk, and john for pedestrians to get off the street. in those put seconds, the victim fell to the ground and the suspect fired additional shots in a denver direction, executing him. sergeant gordon and lt. parra were now within 10 feet of an armed murderer. there were no vehicles behind which they could take cover. their field of fire was the backdrop of a busy irving street. it was packed with pedestrians, class storefronts, passing motorists, and an armed killer. these officers knew that they had to end the deadly threat posed by this man. yet, they knew any rounds fired on that street, whether by them or the suspect, who had the potential to kill or individual victims. they knew they had to draw the attention of this suspect and gain control of him to prevent any further loss of life.

sergeant gordon and lt. parra did not hesitate. they confronted the suspect, shouting out that they were the police and ordering him to drop his weapon. with nothing between them and this murder, they used their tactical expertise to triangulate on the suspect. they chose to close the distance between them. advancing on the murder in a purposeful manner. they knew every foot of sidewalk or st. they could close would reduce the number of pedestrians and civilians exposed. the suspect turned toward them with gun in hand. lt. parra and sergeant gordon were no more than 5 feet from the man. both had that split-second to realize that they were on the brink of using deadly force with all of its consequences. once again, the officers ordered the suspect to drop his gun.

staring down officers, the suspect raised the gun and then tossed it to the ground. lt. parra and sergeant gordon maintained control of the scene. they directed the subjects -- suspect to the ground and directed him away from the gun, handcuffing him. they also rendered aid to the victim in an attempt to save his life. they turned their attention to isolating other potential suspects. they directed the arriving units to secure the suspect, perimeter, murder weapon, to locate witnesses, they ran a textbook investigation and follow-up. we are tremendously fortunate that these two officers were on that street that night. their outstanding bravery and ability to respond without hesitation, there's protection decision making to assess, tactically respond to, and control the immediate deadly

threat, their willingness to put their lives at risk, knowing it was necessary to save the lives of others, their control and disciplined response initially and managing the resulting homicide scene, for these actions, the arabs each being awarded the gold medal of valor. [applause] >> commissioner dejesus wanted

to say a few words. >> i also want to thank all of the awardees tonight. i also want to acknowledge our officers give time, energy, and oftentimes money in the community they live in, as well as to the children in those communities. lt. henry parr is the coordinator of the housing authority but is also active in the operation dream, which gives toys to children in the housing -- over $25,000. they will start distributing those toys december 20 through december 23. we are going to post and on the website. i just wanted knowledge, in doing your everyday work, they give so much time to our community, and this is a

wonderful thing to do to give toys to the children of those in the housing authority. thank you. [applause]

>> now we will have the medal of valor presentation for sgt timothy paine, sergeant james o'malley, sgt gregory kane, officer william eleiff, and officer steven stearns. [applause]

>> on may 5, 2004, a round in o'clock p.m., there was an attempted kidnapping of strangers of a woman and her son. the suspect proceeded in a chevy trailblazer and used a large caliber gun and fled westbound on any street. the suspect's description was broadcast five minutes later at 8:05. two minutes after that, officer eleiff saw the suspect vehicle and paged and began following it. as he broadcast, holding a court microphone, his location, the vehicle sped off at a high rate of speed. opposite the live activated his lights and sirens and pursue the vehicle. the suspect drove west on haight and then northwest on the

visitor. the suspect drove northbound in the southbound lanes of the visitor. of azeri live broadcast a license plate as the suspect turned west on hayes. the suspect drove north on broadway and fired one shot at officer eleiff. , -- stearns, and kane. those shots can be heard of the recording of the night. the suspect headed north and again leaned out the window to fire at the pursuing officers. the suspect then turned eastbound on to turkey into oncoming one way traffic. officers paine and o'malley saw

the vehicle traveling up a high rate of speed on to oncoming traffic. officer pain is a specialist. they are more heavily trained in these types of situations. knowing the information, he attempted to halt the suspect by firing at the suspect. the round, but officers hearing the shot at the suspect had fired at them. officers o'malley and paine, knowing that officer eleiff was a single unit, decided to pursue the suspect. the suspect continued into oncoming traffic until he turned north on webster and the east oneddy, sot on buchanan. during this pursuit, officer you lift prop broadcast the suspects route while driving, holding the microphone in one hand. once in large rally, the suspect

drove along the block calling for residents of the housing project to come out and stop his car. officers paid and o'malley not arrived at the other end of the alley. officer of valley got out of his car and ran down the building line toward the vehicle. the vehicle started again. fear of the suspect might get into another altercation with civilians, as this was mayor of the scene of the initial incident, or leave the alley to in danger citizens and officers, officer of valley stopped -- officer o'malley shot one shot. the suspect fired a round at them through his back window. officers came, stern, and the live, returned fire without hitting the suspect. the officers continued their verbal commands to the suspect to put up his hands and leave the vehicles. the suspect got out of the driver's door, raised his hands,

took off his shirt doing a full circle. the suspect then dropped his hands to his waist and took a few steps toward the officers who did not fire at these provoking actions. the suspect then returned to his car and sat on the running board. officers kept up a stream of commands for the suspect to surrender which he ignored. officer pain move down the alley toward the alley, warning people to get out of the street. sgt. paine had arrived at a position parallel to that of the subject -- suspect. the suspect turned in the car and appeared to be getting something. he turned back toward the officers who again held their fire. the suspect turned back toward the inside of the vehicle, appeared to shield his movement. officer -- sgt. kane saw the suspect reached under his driver seat. the suspect then spun around toward the officers. sgt. paine, believing the

suspect would again opened fire, fire three shots. the suspect fell to the ground. officers called for an ambulance and administered first aid. the suspect was pronounced dead at the same. the suspect's gun was recovered in the driver's door. the suspect was initially wanted for attempted to kidnap a stranger and alison son using a gun. this heinous crime testify the pursuit of the subject. the suspect's crimes showed a gravest threat to public safety. the suspect then fired repeatedly at officers. each of these officers had time to make a decision to put their lives at risk for the public safety. each of these officers could have made decisions to not join in on the efforts or to abandon their attempts to take the

dangers of its critics suspect into -- custody. officer eleiff could have backed off the chase as a 1 person unit. officer stearns and sgt. kane could have done nothing. officer came and started o'malley also could have decided not to. each of these officers showed restraint in not firing their weapons where a suspect provocative action would normally end in shooting. these officers were awarded the gold medal of valor. [applause]

>> a sgt. paine, who could not be here tonight, was also awarded the gold medal of valor.

>> it is with great pride that we honor these individuals for their valor. every day, officers put their

lives at risk and do very good police work and we do not do enough to thank them for that. i am brought to be part of a ceremony where we can point to these heroes and thank them publicly, the way that we should do so every day publicly. so thank you again. [applause] the police commission and the park would would also like to think the diversity of california's san francisco for its generous support in co- sponsored tonight's event. we would like to single out the community relations office and the conference center office for

putting tonight's ceremony and their generous support. i also want to thank ms. tom. she is the one that put the packs together and organized the event. she did a lot of work and happy that she could be here tonight. this concludes our ceremony. there will be refreshments out in front. there is a photographer. you want to take pictures. i am going to go outside and shake the hands of some heroes and thank them. i hope that you will do the same. thank you for coming again.

>> in the store manager, and i would like to introduce the mayor of san francisco and the newly elected lieutenant governor of california, gavin newsom. [applause] mayor newsom: is that me?

supervisor, i'm not ready for this. welcome, everybody, and thank you all very much for coming out today on this special ribbon cutting. supervisor maxwell and i were colleagues on the board of supervisors when this project was first brought up. i remember the controversy like it was yesterday. originally, as you know, this was supposed to be home depot. exactly. i knew it would be like saying the dodgers of san francisco or something. people immediately started to align themselves up in tents, those that just could not imagine a home depot, could not imagine a big box retailer in the city and county of san francisco. i remember all the community meetings of on the hill. all over. we were all over the city having

community meetings about the basic future of san francisco and what kind of city we wanted. were we a city of neighborhoods, or were we just going to find a suburbanized san francisco as our future? that was the debate, and home depot had to come to the table, spend a great deal of time with supervisor maxwell. the other supervisors wanted nothing to do with it at the time. but supervisor maxwell was open and wanted to make sure if there was ever going to be a retailer like that or a big box like this, that there had to be some strong commitments to the community, and they needed to take shape in a private meeting. they needed to be on paper. they needed to be in writing, and we needed to make sure the attorneys were there so that all those commitments were enforceable. then, home depot, out of nowhere, decided to take off,

just like sirens on that engine, and all that work, the macroeconomics of the world started to change, and they decided they had gone through the entire process, those arrows, those slings, and they went through all of that, and we had this incredible untitled project. every single thing approved. all those commitments. and the supervisor -- i remember the day after that announcement. we were on the phone talking with michael cohen, saying what do we do? and we got this call from lowe's saying they might be interested. i remember that conversation. we said, "can you believe this?" we were pinching ourselves saying, "this is too good to be true if." there were a lot of disappointments because of the

commitments that were made and the negotiated agreements, and we had gone through all the politics of this, and we finally -- the community was very supportive out here. not unanimously, but overwhelmingly supportive. we thought it was time to follow through on our commitment to the people of bayview hunters point, particularly 94124 area code. days became weeks and weeks became months, and folks in the mayor's office, my office, and supervisor maxwell's office, and lowe's said they were willing to accept all the commitments that previous books made. we thought they would say they would commit to everything, but then we thought they would start to unravel, and they would pull back. but the reality is they said they would commit and they committed. and here we are, and they did

exactly that. the local hires i think are without precedent of any big project in this city. this is real on the destruction inside and the permanent jobs that are being created. that is a pretty extraordinary thing. 211 or so jobs. 88% are just from in and around the area. it is an extraordinary story. i'm really proud of lowe's. we are not jumping up and down four big boxes. we will be candid. we love the sales tax. this is a big deal. but we are sensitive to what big stores do. because you guys are so good that some of the little guys can be threatened by it, but this location was the right location. this boulevard needed the economic stimulus, the anchor. look at all the fresh paint

across the street. it did not always look like that. you are going to see in the next few years this boulevard take shape. if lowe's continues to be the employer they have proven to date, a lot of families will benefit because of the jobs created because of this, so thank you for following through on all your promises. so far, you are one of the good ones, and we want to keep saying that for years to come. i thank supervise the maxwell for getting in the mix and holding strong because it was not easy. i was watching those votes, and, man. [applause] all the commitments on the work force training money, the day laborer program, all those new trees we were going to get -- thank you for holding steadfast.

michael cohen and all the folks in my office that helped make this possible. we are on our way out. we have had the best dam year. this is like 1998 and again or something. there's so much to be proud of or thankful for. with that, your supervisor, supervisor sophie maxwell. [applause] >> thank you. i remember like yesterday those five to six votes, but what made a difference was the community. what made a difference was young community developers and hard hats and yellow vests lining up the walls. 60, 70 of them, and each of them speaking about the opportunities that they wanted to become working people.

they wanted jobs and they wanted a leg up, and that is what this was about, so that is what i remember. i remember 2:00 and 3:00 in the morning, but it was all worth it. i can hardly find a parking place this year. i'm really excited, and this boulevard -- you are right. we are working on becoming a home improvement district with lowe's being the anchor, so i think you are going to find a lot of fascinating things happening in this area, this district, so i want to thank the mayor and all of my colleagues. the so-called progressive -- they do not relate like economic development that much. they like programs. so aaron said that it was going

to be rough, and i told him to represent the people standing here, and he did. i want to thank all the people who are going to come here and the 50% from 94124 and 93134. thank you for that. >> and thank you to look of 22, local 261, to rsr construction. thank you very much. now, we are going to hand it back to lowe's and have the ribbon cutting. thank you. >> with all of that, we just want to thank everyone. first from the city of san francisco for welcoming us. we opened the doors, and it has been wonderful hearing all the comments from the customers about how excited they were to

come into lowe's and how they look forward to come into lows. i want to thank the community and neighborhood for welcoming guests -- welcoming us. i want to thank the honorable mayor of san francisco and sophie maxwell for welcoming us. i would like to thank rhonda simmons and her wonderful and entire staff for her guidance and support, and i would like to thank everyone for the partnership. i would like to thank derek smith for his guidance with this whole project. without your advice, i think we would be wandering through, wondering where to go. i would also like to thank my district manager for his support

and guidance, but most of all, i would like to thank short construction and the storm voice and their families for the hard work and dedication and the hours away from home that they spent building this store. it was a wonderful experience to bond with our group that were from this community. [applause] i would like to cite -- to thank malcolm x academy for allowing us to do a super heroes project at their school where we repainted and unified their school and planted for them and help them with their nutrition project, but i would like to present the thurgood marshall high school a check