OAKLAND � For the second time in less than five months, a fan attending a pro game involving a San Francisco team has landed in the hospital with life-threatening injuries, raising questions about fan safety .
By Michael Macor, San Francisco Chronicle via AP
Police officers investigate the scene of a shooting just outside of lot L at Candlestick Park, where the San Francisco 49ers had just finished playing the Oakland Raiders in an NFL preseason game. One man was seriously wounded in the shooting while another man sustained lesser injuries in an earlier shooting.
By Michael Macor, San Francisco Chronicle via AP
Police officers investigate the scene of a shooting just outside of lot L at Candlestick Park, where the San Francisco 49ers had just finished playing the Oakland Raiders in an NFL preseason game. One man was seriously wounded in the shooting while another man sustained lesser injuries in an earlier shooting.
San Francisco police spokesman Michael Andraychak said they were looking for "a person of interest" connected to at least one of two shootings in the Candlestick Park parking lot following Saturday night's Oakland Raiders-49ers NFL preseason game. Police were interviewing witnesses to both incidents.
Andraychak said a 24-year-old man was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries after being shot several times in the stomach, and another man in his 20s was being treated for less-severe wounds from a separate shooting.
Their names have not been released.
"I do not know if these victims were fans of any particular ballclub, and I have not been able to confirm they were there to attend the game," Andraychak said.
The shootings happened nearly five months after a March 31 incident in which San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow suffered brain damage from a brutal beating outside of Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. He remains hospitalized and his prognosis for recovery is uncertain.
On Saturday, police Sgt. Frank Harrell said the victim with the more serious wounds wore a T-shirt that demeaned the 49ers.
Rafael Nunez of Fremont, Calif., who attended Saturday's game and was tailgating Sunday before the Toronto Blue Jays-Oakland Athletics game, said, "There were a lot of Raiders fans that came in with T-shirts that said, 'F--- the Niners.' You go to someone else's stadium and you wear stuff like that, there's tension."
Nunez said he and his friends don't bring their children to Raiders games anymore because of safety concerns over what he called "a thug mentality."
San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee and Oakland Mayor Jean Quan issued a joint statement: "Violence will not be tolerated in either of our stadiums. The incidents at Candlestick Park are completely unacceptable and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
"Fans come to our stadiums to enjoy an afternoon of football, not to be subjected to intimidation or violence. These games are family events and the types of images we witnessed last night have no place in our arenas."
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello echoed similar comments in a statement released Sunday.
"We deplore the activities of a handful of fans at last night's game and pledge our full support to Mayors Lee and Quan and to state and local law enforcement agencies," Aiello said. "We are carefully reviewing the events to make sure we have a full understanding of the facts.
"We will continue to work closely with our clubs and law enforcement agencies to support our fan conduct and stadium security initiatives," Aiello said.
A motive for either attack ? including whether either was influenced by emotions surrounding a game involving arch-rival teams ? also was not known.
A third victim was also hospitalized in serious condition Sunday after he was knocked unconscious in a stadium bathroom during the football game. That attack appeared unrelated to the other two, authorities said.
49ers coach Jim Harbaugh, who once coached in the Raiders organization, said he was saddened to hear about the spate of violence.
"I didn't know anything was going on during the game. I wasn't aware of that," Harbaugh said. "I feel bad for the people who got injured and the people who had to see that, for those who had to witness it. I feel bad when you sponsor an event, for an organization, and those things happen."
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