Family, advocates protest for release of South San Francisco man shot by police, charged with assault

The San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office has charged Luis Francisco Manzo — who survived the shooting — with assault. The DA’s Office is alleging that on Dec. 8, 2025, he disobeyed South San Francisco Police Department officer’s commands to drop a knife he was holding while outside of the house, allegedly asking officers to kill him and continuing to approach officers with the knife in hand, at which point he was shot. Officers deployed a taser before shooting, but it allegedly did not have an effect, the DA’s Office said.

But family and advocates from political action group Dare to Struggle Bay Area say that police escalated what was intended to be a wellness check by shooting Manzo and are demanding he be released from the Maple Street Jail where he is being held without bail, saying his wounds from the shooting are not adequately being treated.

Manzo’s mother, Raquel Francisco Manzo, called the police for a wellness check on her son, fearing he was a danger to himself, she said outside the San Mateo County courthouse. Rather than help, she said, what followed was a traumatizing escalation.

“I called the police for help and they got here and immediately shot him,” she said through a translator. “He was not OK in his head. He was in a mental health crisis, and I called them for help because he wanted to harm himself.”

Raquel, who was present during the shooting, said that her son originally came out of the house with his hands up and the knife in his hand was because he was trying to harm himself.

During the incident, Luis Francisco Manzo walked at officers with a knife while urging them to kill him, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said, which is why the officers made the decision to charge him.

“We have charged him with the crimes that are there for coming at the police with a knife, refusing to drop the knife, while at the same time, he was walking at the officers with the knife urging them to kill him,” Wagstaffe said.

The DA’s Office has not yet rendered an opinion regarding the two officers involved in the shooting, Brendan Hart and Martin Corona, Wagstaffe said, though he expects it within the next one to two weeks. The incident marked the third officer-involved shooting in South City in 2025.

A Dare to Struggle member who identified herself as Nat said the group wanted the officers involved in the shooting to be charged, and additionally maintained that Luis Francisco Manzo is not receiving adequate medical care in jail, noting that in a phone call he said the bandages on his gunshot wound were not being regularly changed and he was nearly given the wrong medication.

“Our demands for today are that he be released from custody,” she said. “He is still recovering from his six gunshot wounds. He still has open wounds that they very clearly cannot properly treat inside of the jail.”

During the Feb. 20 hearing, a Sheriff’s Office representative said the department had the available resources to treat Luis Francisco Manzo in the jail, Wagstaffe said. He added that the judge maintained his original ruling that Luis Francisco Manzo posed a danger to the public if released, thus keeping him on no bail status for the assault charges. He has an additional $100,000 bail for violating parole conditions for prior felony drug and gun possession charges, Wagstaffe said.

During an impassioned plea on the courthouse steps, Luis’s girlfriend, Jennifer Mayoral-Martinez, said the police should not have been in the situation without adequate training to de-escalate a mental health crisis.

“We share a 6-month-old son together. I just want him to be free. It’s not fair that he had to go through this, and now they’re taking him away from his son,” she said.