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SFPD Plans Town Hall Meeting After Officer Shot In The Head, Suspect Killed

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – The San Francisco Police Department will hold a town hall meeting Thursday to give residents information about a shooting that occurred Friday in the city's Lake Shore neighborhood in which a man was fatally shot by police after shooting an officer in the head.

The meeting will take place at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Scottish Rite Masonic Center at 2850 19th Ave., police said.

The incident unfolded around 8:15 p.m. Friday, when officers responded to the Lakeshore Plaza Shopping Center at 1501 Sloat Blvd. for a report of a man causing a disturbance and making threats, according to police.

When officers encountered the man in the first block of Everglade Drive, he fired several shots toward the officers, striking one officer in the head, police said.

The injured officer's partner provided him first aid and requested backup while other officers responded to the area, according to police.

The suspect, later identified as 26-year-old Pacifica resident Nicholas McWherter, then ran toward Sigmund Stern Recreation Grove, police said.

McWherter then came out of the bushes at 28th Avenue and Vicente Street and tried to run away. Officers chased and shot him, causing him to fall to the ground, according to police.

McWherter then held his gun to his chest and refused to surrender.  Using flash-bang devices to distract him, officers were ultimately able to arrest him. He was taken to San Francisco General Hospital for treatment but died from his injuries around 3 p.m. Sunday, according to a hospital spokesman.

The injured officer was also taken to San Francisco General Hospital, where he was listed in critical but stable condition as of Saturday, police said.

Interim police Chief Toney Chaplin said Saturday that the officer underwent surgery to remove bullet fragments from his brain and has been left partially paralyzed on one side of his body.

"One centimeter down and this may have been a fatality for the officer," Chaplin said.

The injured officer has been with the department for two years and had been assigned to the department's Taraval Station, according to Chaplin.

© Copyright 2016 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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