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Pacific Beach homeless attack caught on video

A video now turned controversial shows a Pacific Beach sandwich shop employee's confrontation with a homeless man.

SAN DIEGO — A Pacific Beach sandwich shop employee was caught on video confronting a homeless man, but he said the video does not tell the whole story.

The video, which has caused a lot of buzz on social media, shows a B-Mo’s sandwich shop employee shoving a table at the homeless man's head and throwing his belongings across the street. The employee told News 8 the man had threatened him, a moment that was not captured on camera. 

Michael McConnell is a homeless advocate. He told News 8 he met with the homeless man in the video Thursday morning.

“It is pretty shocking. It is pretty shocking someone would take such action against and elderly frail person. He said he is a veteran – been on the streets for eight months,” he said.

The video, which was posted on Twitter, has been viewed thousands of times. The backlash has lead many to leave negative reviews on B-Mo’s Yelp page. Yelp has since placed an “unusual activity alert” on the B-Mo’s page – preventing people from posting negative reviews because of the video.


Juan Blumkin is the co-owner of Luxe Jewlery and Loan – located just a couple doors down from B-Mo’s sandwich shop.

“When you only see a side of a story, it is not fair and balanced,” he said.

Blumkin said the homeless man is known to many of the business owners in the neighborhood.

“One occasion he was brandishing a knife and threatened us and our storefront and we’ve asked him to leave,” he said.

Off-camera the B-Mo’s employee in the video said the homeless man is someone they too, deal with regularly. He told News 8 the homeless man threatened him with a rock on Wednesday – a moment not captured on video.

“You cannot treat people like that. We cannot solve this issue treating people inhumanely, no matter how much frustration you have. If you have outrage, put it in the right place,” said McConnell.

He also said the outrage should be aimed at San Diego leaders: the mayor and the City Council.

News 8 reached out to the mayor’s office for comment but have not received a reply.

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