On the evening of September 16, 2023, at about 9:00 p.m., San Francisco police responded to a shooting near Charles J. Brenham Place and McAllister Street in the Tenderloin. Officers found 34-year-old James Allen with gunshot wounds; he was taken to a hospital and later died of his injuries. A second male victim suffered non-life-threatening wounds.

The San Francisco Police Department’s Homicide Detail investigated and identified 42-year-old Milton Thomas, a San Francisco resident, as the primary suspect. Thomas was arrested on September 19, 2023, on felony charges including homicide, causing death in the commission of a crime, carrying a concealed firearm, and assault causing great bodily injury. Records in the investigation note Thomas had prior run-ins with the law and had been released from custody on a separate case before September 16, which left him free the night Allen was killed.

Anyone with information about this shooting in the Tenderloin is asked to contact the San Francisco Police Department.