San Francisco police are investigating three different robberies that happened Thursday, including a cellphone snatching involving a thief who flashed a gun and rode away on a scooter.

The first theft happened at around 8:30 a.m. in the Tenderloin when a robber came up behind a man and grabbed his cellphone near Golden Gate Avenue and Hyde Street, police said.

The victim chased his assailant before realizing that another man riding a scooter had his cellphone, according to police. When the man demanded his phone back, the scooter rider flashed a gun.

The victim, 28, was not injured.

Then in the afternoon, a 21-year-old woman was assaulted and robbed in the Bayview after getting into an SUV with another young woman, according to police.

The driver, also a 21-year-old woman, drove the victim to the unit block of Thomas Mellon Circle and parked, police said. She then got out of the car and attacked the passenger.

The woman was robbed of her cellphone, cash and passport. She was taken to a hospital and is expected to survive.

In the third robbery, a 26-year-old woman was pushed to the ground during a purse snatching at Buena Vista Park.

The robbery happened shortly after 7 p.m. Police have not released a detailed description of the suspect.

No arrests have been made in any of the cases.

As of the end of March, robberies were up by 15 percent in San Francisco compared to 2019, when 671 robberies were reported. There were 773 robberies in the first three months of 2020.

mbarba@sfexaminer.com

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