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by\u00a0ABIGAIL V\u00c2N NEELY<\/a><\/strong> JANUARY 30, 2025 (MissionLocal.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Young](\"https:\/\/newspack-missionlocal.s3.amazonaws.com\/mission\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/462684069_3787818308158324_333716425792721912_n.jpg\")
Cheasarack Chong has been identified by the San Francisco Medical Examiner as the suspect who was killed by police following a Monday standoff after <\/a>Chong allegedly shot dispensary owner Martin Olive<\/a>. His family says he had struggled with mental illness for years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Chong, a 34-year-old Fresno native, was the son of Cambodian war refugees. He is survived by his three brothers and two sisters, who lost contact with him over eight years ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe left home years ago for a better life in San Francisco,\u201d said one brother, Tee Chong. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2017, a bulletin asking for information about Cheasarack Chong was posted to a Missing & Homeless Facebook group<\/a>. \u201cHe could be very vulnerable on the streets,\u201d the post says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Want the latest on the Mission and San Francisco? Sign up for our free daily newsletter<\/strong> below.Sign up<\/p>\n\n\n\n In an attached photo of Chong in middle school, he wears a light blue collared shirt and wire-rim glasses. According to the post, he left home with his bike, a suitcase, and a cross-body backpack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He was registered as living at 81 Ninth St., Apt. 608, a unit above the Vapor Room Dispensary that Olive owns. The Vapor Room does not have any record of Chong ever being a customer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Regarding the broad daylight and apparently unprovoked shooting, Tee Chong said: \u201cI don\u2019t know what made him do what he did but I\u2019m heartbroken, and the rest of my family is as well. We pray the victim comes out of this okay and has a speedy recovery.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Olive was in intensive care after being after being shot multiple times and wounded in his lungs and face, longtime friend Jason Grace wrote on a GoFundMe<\/a> page on Wednesday. Some of the bullet fragments, Grace wrote, are too risky to remove. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Olive will stay in the hospital for at least another week as the blood loss, swelling, and stitches all over his body are treated. Still, \u201che remains in good spirits, even earning a reputation as the hospital\u2019s most popular patient,\u201d Grace added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After shooting Olive, the suspect entered a nearby building and refused to surrender to police. Officers called Cheasarack Chong\u2019s family during the standoff, requesting them to record a message asking the shooter to give himself up, Tee Chong said. It was unsuccessful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Police fired less-lethal projectiles at windows in the building where Chong was holed up and also deployed gas. Mission Local<\/em> is told that Chong was armed with two pistols and a rifle and fired at police with both a pistol and a rifle before being fatally shot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As of Tuesday evening, Tee Chong said he had not heard from the police again: \u201cDuring negotiation we were in the dark with how serious the situation was and [the police department] didn\u2019t want to disclose anything prior.\u201d If the family had had more information, he continued, they might have been able to talk to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat he did wasn\u2019t right at all,\u201d Tee Chong said. \u201cI don\u2019t know what got him to that breaking point.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2018, Cheasarack Chong was acquitted of attempted murder charges<\/a>. He had stabbed one of his attackers in self-defense after being beaten and robbed on his way to work, according to his public defenders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After this 2018 incident, Tee Chong said it was his understanding that the county \u201ctook care\u201d of his brother. The family thought he had been doing well and working hard, \u201cuntil this moment.\u201d He acknowledged that while they didn\u2019t know Cheasarack Chong\u2019s motives, \u201cit looks like he still needed help.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Tee Chong stressed the importance of mental health awareness: \u201cHe wasn\u2019t always that way, he was just depressed for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAll he wanted was a better life and to free himself,\u201d he added. \u201cI\u2019m saddened that SFPD didn\u2019t let us talk him out of it and to get him help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is a breaking news story that will be updated as more information becomes available.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Additional reporting by Joe Eskenazi.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n We’re a small, independent, nonprofit newsroom<\/strong> that works hard to bring you news you can’t get elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n abigail@missionlocal.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Originally from New York City, Abigail is a recent graduate of Stanford’s Journalism Master’s program. She’s interested in community, inequity, and accountability stories, and enjoys foggy mornings with her tuxedo cat, Sally Carrera. (Yes, the shelter did in fact name the cat after the Porsche from the animated movie Cars.)More by Abigail V\u00e2n Neely<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u2018We pray the victim comes out of this okay and has a speedy recovery,\u2019 says brother of alleged shooter, who lived above victim\u2019s dispensary by\u00a0ABIGAIL V\u00c2N NEELY JANUARY 30, 2025 (MissionLocal.org) Cheasarack Chong has been identified by the San Francisco Medical Examiner as the suspect who was killed by police following… Continue reading ![\"Mission](\"https:\/\/newspack-missionlocal.s3.amazonaws.com\/mission\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/mission-local-logo-300x300.jpg\"){kind=logo}
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