San Francisco, CA – A fatal police shooting concluded a tense standoff on Monday with a suspect identified as Cheasarack Chong, who reportedly opened fire earlier that day on a local dispensary owner. The incident has cast a spotlight on the suspect’s background and raised questions regarding his mental state and the actions leading to his final confrontation with law enforcement.
Cheasarack Chong, a 35-year-old originally from Fresno and the son of Cambodian war refugees, was tragically shot by San Francisco police after allegedly attacking Martin Olive, the owner of the Vapor Room Dispensary. Chong had reportedly fired several shots at Olive, who is now in critical condition, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
The encounter began when Chong allegedly shot Olive in broad daylight in an apparently unprovoked attack. Following the shooting, Chong barricaded himself in a nearby building, prompting a lengthy standoff with police. During the standoff, authorities attempted to negotiate by involving Chong’s family, who recorded a message urging him to surrender peacefully. Unfortunately, these efforts were unsuccessful.
According to Tee Chong, Cheasarack’s brother, the family lost contact with him over eight years ago after he left Fresno seeking a better life in San Francisco. “He left home years ago for a better life in San Francisco,” Tee Chong recollected. A post from 2017 on a Missing & Homeless Facebook group described Cheasarack as vulnerable due to his mental state, which resembled that of a child.
As the standoff intensified, police deployed less-lethal projectiles to break the windows and gas to force Chong out. Armed with two pistols and a rifle, Chong fired on the police, leading to officers returning fire and fatally wounding him. His motive remains unclear, but the incident paints a grim portrait of a man who, despite past encounters with law and a defensive act of violence in 2018, seemed to have been struggling beneath the surface.
In 2018, Chong was acquitted of attempted murder charges after he claimed to have acted in self-defense during a robbery. His public defenders stated that he had been attacked and robbed while on his way to work. This background fills in pieces of Chong’s turbulent experiences in the years leading up to the shooting.
Martin Olive, meanwhile, remains hospitalized with severe injuries. According to a friend managing a GoFundMe page for Olive, he sustained wounds to his lungs and face, some of which are too dangerous to operate on. Despite the severity of his condition, Olive is described as maintaining a positive spirit, even gaining the affectionate title of “the hospital’s most popular patient” among the staff.
The incident has left both the community and Chong’s family grappling with shock and grief. “I don’t know what made him do what he did, but I’m heartbroken, and the rest of my family is as well. We pray the victim recovers quickly,” said Tee Chong, expressing both his dismay at the outcome and his hopes for Olive’s recovery.
This tragic event underscores the often-complex intersection of mental health issues and public safety, highlighting ongoing concerns about the adequacy of support systems for individuals like Cheasarack Chong who find themselves on the margins of society, struggling with unresolved mental health challenges.