American gallery owner who wanted to ‘spray away’ homeless person gets off with community service | Abroad

The action of the now 72-year-old man, Shannon Collier Gwin, was filmed and widely shared on social media. Viewers were shocked and the art dealership involved was deliberately damaged. The incident also sparked a discussion about how the government should deal with people without shelter, among other things.

The community service is sort of a deal with the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, as Gwin could have also received months in prison. The gallery owner is now obliged to do odd jobs at the Third Baptist Church, the oldest African-American church in San Francisco.

The attorney in the case, Brooke Jenkins, hopes “Mr. Gwin will develop greater understanding, respect and empathy for the plight of homeless people.”

Gwin previously said he and neighbors had already raised the alarm about the woman, who was said to be “seriously ill and a nuisance”. He still believes that the city of San Francisco should be held jointly responsible: “Ordinary citizens are not equipped to deal with these kinds of problems on their own.”

The homeless problem is huge in San Francisco. Thousands of people live on the streets. Local traders previously threatened to stop paying taxes if “politicians did not clean up the streets”. The homeless are said to harass their customers and also openly take drugs on the street.

LOOK ALSO. Another remarkable video from San Francisco: Footage from April shows a homeless woman giving birth on the sidewalk in broad daylight. The incident was filmed on Geary St, notorious for drug-addicted homeless people