San Francisco street ambassador shot dead while confronting drug user outside library

A San Francisco street ambassador who turned his life around after 23 years in prison was shot dead by a man he’d asked to stop using drugs outside of a public library, according to officials and colleagues.

Joey Alexander, who worked for non-profit Urban Alchemy, confronted someone for using drugs near children outside the Main Branch of the San Francisco Public Library on Friday when the man pulled out a shotgun and blasted him, the organization’s spokesperson Jess Montejano said.

The 60-year-old father of two died from his wounds on Tuesday.

“That was his beat, in front of the main library. He showed up to work every day when it was his shift,” Montejano told reporters on Wednesday, KRON reported.

When Alexander asked the man to stop, the man yelled “”f–k Urban Alchemy,’ pulled out a shotgun out of his bag and shot him in the torso area,” she said.

Edmund Bowen, 42, was arrested and booked on suspicion of homicide, according to the San Francisco Police Department. Prosecutors are likely to pursue a murder charge before the end of the week, according to KTVU.

Urban Alchemy, which launched in 2018, is contracted with San Francisco and sends its employees, most of whom were formerly incarcerated, into some of the city’s roughest neighborhoods to deter crime and drug use on the streets.

Alexander served 23 years in prison over a gang-related homicide, his brother told the San Francisco Chronicle.

He walked out of San Quentin a few days after Christmas 2022 and had worked as an Urban Alchemy ambassador for two years.

“He wanted to make right what he’d done in his past,” the brother, Marvin Alexander, told KTVU. “Whatever he was doing, it was the right thing. He loved his job, I know that. He loved his job.”

Alexander was at least the third Urban Alchemy employee shot on the job, according to the Chronicle.

“It’s a tight-knit team. There’s definitely some fear amongst urban alchemy practitioners right now. It’s very easy to see themselves in Mr. Alexander,” Montejano said.

Alexander leaves behind two sons.

“Our ambassadors dedicate their lives to the work of helping those on the street. Joey Alexander gave his life for it,” Mayor Daniel Lurie wrote on X Wednesday.