There was some craziness in northeast Bernal Heights on Saturday night. Perhaps you saw it on the Twitter. Perhaps you heard the heat-seeking CHP helicopter hovering overhead. Perhaps you listened to it on ScanSF. Or perhaps you had had several heavily armed police officers stationed in your backyard.

It was a big deal.

After shooting a man in the Tenderloin on Saturday night, a car full of baddies led the SFPD on a chase to  Florida at Precita, and that’s when things got really intense. Rob Nagle from the SF Examiner picks up the story:

The shooting occurred at Leavenworth and Turk streets about 10:30 p.m. when a 35-year-old man riding a bike was shot by one of four men who fled the scene in a 4-door sedan. Before fleeing the scene, one of the suspects took a necklace and some pills from the victim, police Officer Gordon Shyy said.

Officers located the vehicle and pursued it onto Highway 101 through various police districts.

The suspects reportedly abandoned the vehicle at Precita Avenue and Florida Street and fled on foot. Two suspects were taken into custody and two are still outstanding.

Several firearms were recovered in the vehicle, Shyy said.

The suspects arrested were identified as 25-year-old Timon O’Connor and 24-year-old Phillip Ridinger, both San Francisco residents. They were both booked on numerous charges including attempted homicide, robbery, conspiracy, possession of narcotics, evading police and carrying concealed firearms.

O’Connor was reportedly found hiding in the trunk of a car in a garage in the 500 block of Precita Avenue and Ridinger was apparently located at Folsom and Cesar Chavez streets, Shyy said.

Wait. Did you catch that? One of the shooting suspects was found hiding the the trunk of a car parked in a Bernal neighbors garage.

Ugh. Via Neighbor Sarah, Captain Falvey at Ingleside provides some additional detail:

The events started with a robbery in the Tenderloin. A necklace was ripped off the victim’s neck (this kind of robbery has picked up, by the way), and then one of the muggers shot him. A witness got a partial license plate number and gave the make/model of the car, which was then spotted by one of the Tenderloin patrol cars. The car took off, leading the police on a chase up Van Ness and Mission. The car was then ditched in the Precita area, and some officers responding to the scene encountered two groups of two men each, one going one way and one going another. One of the groups seemed to match the suspect descriptions from the Tenderloin robbery, so they followed those two. One was eventually arrested while talking on his cell phone as if nothing had happened. The other was found hiding in a car in a garage, as has been reported. The police arrested them and recovered two weapons. The two guys arrested were identified as the shooters. So it’s not clear if the other group of two guys had anything to do with these guys, but the police are still investigating that. The two guys who were arrested had addresses a few blocks away in the Mission.

To experience the madness as it happened, here is an audio archive of SFPD dispatch communications during the incident.

PHOTO: SFPD on Precita Saturday night, by Stephani Ramirez

Apparently, it’s crime season.

In recent days, Bernalwood has received an unusually large number of emails from Bernal neighbors sharing reports about incidents of gunfire, burglary, and robbery. Here’s the most recent one, received yesterday:

One of my neighbors left the house this morning around 6AM and was mugged out front by an assailant that had just broken into another neighbors vehicle. This happened on Aztec Street (between Shotwell and Coso). He got away with her belongings and ran toward the Shotwell/Aztec stairway.

Though our data at this point remains anecdotal, there is reason to believe the recent incidents may be seasonal. The SFPD warned residents in November that property crimes tend to increase when the days grow shorter, and remember that we experienced a crime wave this time last year.

Neighbor Sarah, Bernal’s official unofficial liaison to the SFPD’s Ingleside Station,  shares these critical personal safety tips:

There have been several muggings in Bernal Heights over the past week, especially in the south/west part of the neighborhood (near Holly Park, St. Mary’s, and elsewhere), at times ranging from 6am to 11:30pm. In several cases, the victims were approached by a group of four young men who had a gun. In other cases, there was one perpetrator. There has been a rash of burglaries in the same general area.

Captain Falvey of Ingleside Station will be emailing us an update on the crimes and whatever he can share on the investigations soon, but, in the meantime, here are some reminders:

• Be alert when out walking, and be alert as a neighbor/witness as well. Be in the moment, not on your phone. If you notice suspicious behavior, even if you yourself are not threatened, call the police.

• Leave your porch lights ON – this can make a big difference in improving lighting for pedestrians and in giving the impression that people are at home and paying attention.

• If it’s a crime in progress (of any sort – this includes auto break-ins and burglaries, as well as violent crimes) or suspicious behavior that has escalated, call 911. Program 553-8090 into your cell phone – this is cell-phone 911. Although the problem with cell phone 911 calls being routed to CHP was supposedly fixed, this exact thing – being routed to Vallejo first – happened to me a month ago when I called 911 and was near a freeway.

• The non-emergency police dispatch number is 553-0123. Call this number if you see something going on that is suspicious but does not rise to the level described above.

• If you ARE mugged, remember: surrender your valuables, not yourself. Hand over your belongings, but do anything you can to avoid going with someone to another location.

• If you are mugged or witness a mugging, try to notice details that will help the police. Muggers often wear multiple layers of clothing that can easily be shed, so look for things that cannot be removed or changed so easily: shoes, glasses, facial hair, tattoos, height, jewelry. Only do this if you can do so without endangering yourself.

• The weather is warm, and people often leave windows open. Do NOT do this, even if it’s a 2nd- or 3rd-floor window.

• SFSAFE will do free residential security assessments for your house. Call 673-SAFE to make an appointment. http://www.sfsafe.org

• SFSAFE will also help you set up a neighborhood watch group. 673-SAFE, http://www.sfsafe.org

• One random request: if you have a security camera, know how to check the footage and to make a clip for the police. This footage can be important as evidence, and often people don’t know how to do these things.

Read more tips on personal safety and residential security here.

Stay calm. Be smart. Stay tuned.

Special thanks to Neighbor Sarah for the invaluable information she provides.

PHOTO: Telstar Logistics