VIDEO: San Fran Firefighter Says Black Co-Worker Nearly Murdered Him… and He Got Fired for Pressing Charges

A former San Francisco firefighter is speaking out after a colleague allegedly violently beat him with a tool in 2022.

Gabriel Shin said after Firefighter Robert Muhammad allegedly attacked him with a hydrant wrench he filed a federal civil rights lawsuit to find out why he lost his job and the suspect held onto his job, ABC 7 reported on Thursday.

An image shows the suspect in the case:

SF firefighter Robert Muhammad (pic) charged by @AlamedaCountyDA w/assault w/deadly weapon for using fire-hose metal spanner wrench to attack fellow SF firefighter Gabriel Shin at his home in Oakland’s Eastlake, breaking his arm & giving him concussion, per @oaklandpoliceca pic.twitter.com/seM2oXynpj

— Henry K. Lee (@henrykleeKTVU) May 19, 2022

Per Cascade Fire Equipment, a hydrant wrench is used to open and close hydrants and remove a hydrant’s cap.

Muhammad was struggling with a family crisis in 2021 and his fellow firefighters were worried about the situation. They offered to help but Muhammad refused them.

Months later, Shin said Muhammad began asking who had been talking about his private concerns, and Shin said he was the one who informed the crew members about it but would not reveal who initially told him. However, it was then that Muhammad allegedly threatened to hurt Shin.

A few days later, Muhammad showed up at Shin’s home in Oakland with the hydrant wrench and confronted him outside. The ABC 7 report continued:

“I heard somebody say, ‘Are you going to tell me, are you going to tell me who told you?'” Shin said. “And I turned around and I said, ‘Robert, what are you doing here?’ He said, ‘Who are you protecting?’ I said, ‘I forgot.’ And then he reached into his back pocket. He pulled out the large brass spanner, and he started swinging at my head.”

During the incident, Shin suffered a broken arm and concussion. A neighbor stopped the altercation by confronting Muhammed with a handgun.

Muhammed later pleaded not guilty to felony assault with a deadly weapon, ABC 7 reported in May 2022. The outlet noted that the two men had known each other for more than 20 years:

According to Shin’s lawsuit, some of his supervisors told him to drop the charges and avoid cooperating with police regarding the case.

“The lawsuit says, ‘They treated Shin with startling prejudice and Muhammad with baffling favor from the outset because they saw one difference: Shin is Asian and Muhammad is Black.’ In their answer, the defendants deny each and every allegation,” the recent ABC 7 article said.

The outlet noted that after Shin refused to participate in a fire department interrogation, his pay and health insurance were revoked.