The two San Francisco police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Washington State parolee Kenneth Harding last month were named in a letter from SFPD to the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California.
In response to a Sunshine Ordiance request filed by ACLU Norcal attorney Michael Risher, SFPD identified Matthew Lopez and Richard Hastings as the two officers who fired on Harding.
Harding, who was 19 at the time of his death, fled from SFPD officers who were conducting fare checks at the Muni Platform on Third Street. Though the officers didn’t know it at the time, Harding was on parole from Washington State and was considered a person of interest in a Seattle homicide earlier in July. Harding fired on SFPD officers as he fled. Harding and Lopez returned fire, striking him in the leg.